Let Them Know
by RomulusRevenge
Summary: A Read-The-Books fic. James, Sirius, Remus, Lily, Molly, Arthur, Alice, Frank, and McGonagall read the Sorcerer's Stone in a mysterious place called InBetween. The goal? To let James and Lily know what the son they never knew grew up to be.
1. Chapter 1

These books that lay before her had a powerful magical pull. Maybe it was the fact that there were seven of them (the most magical number). Or maybe it had something to do with the fact that her best friend's name was in each of the titles. Either way, something about them caught the bushy-haired witch's eye in a Muggle bookstore, and led to where she found herself now; at home in her library, looking at the curious novels stacked before her.

Over the course of just two days (for she was a very fast reader), she had perused each of the books and came to the conclusion that somebody, SOMEbody, had to know. She doubted that the books had the power to change the world overall; after all, nothing could prevent evil for good, Dumbledore had told them that much. But perhaps….this knowledge could change some lives, make a difference to somebody. She had to try.

She raised her wand and wiped the books clean of summaries and chapter titles, then erased all of the book titles. She left the words "Harry Potter" so that it would pique the interest of the people that it should. If all went according to plan….

Shaking with the thought of this dangerous, experimental, and HIGHLY advanced magic, she raised her wand again and whispered "Portus Tempus". She hoped with all her heart this simple, self-devised spell would work. The books glowed red, then purple, and finally disappeared in a flash of blue light. She sighed in relief and slumped back on the couch. She hoped she had done the right thing.

James Potter lay in his bed in the Gryffindor dormitory with the hangings closed. Rejected….again. When would Evans see that she was different? That she was the one that could make him change? His ego was only to impress her; if she would only go out with him, just once, he could show her his other side…. Lost in self-pity, James gave a start as a small pop sounded from somewhere near him. He opened his eyes and realized that wherever he was, he was far from the dormitory.

Sirius Black was waiting in a passageway behind a tapestry on the fourth floor. If Mary was late…. He was already considering dumping her, seeing as Sarah from Hufflepuff had caught his eye just hours after he made this appointment. He felt a pang of guilt as he thought of James, no doubt moping due to his latest rejection. Maybe he could take Sarah and refer Mary to James, help him lift his spirits up. Buoyed by this ingenious new plan, Sirius prepared to tell Mary that she was more well-suited to his best mate, when a popping noise disturbed his thoughts. Turning around, he gasped when he saw the passageway had disappeared.

Lily Evans stormed towards the library, in a towering temper after what had just happened. 'That arrogant little…' she couldn't even finish the thought, she was so upset. How dare he, how DARE he ask her again? Haven't 237 rejections been enough? 'Does anything get through that thick, huge, pompous skull?' she thought angrily. She arrived at the library and began looking for a book on Gillyweed for Professor Slughorn. Eventually, she couldn't keep her thoughts to herself. "That arrogant GIT!" she exploded.

"You rang?" a voice said from the end of her row. Lily wheeled around, ready to curse if it was HIM again, when she caught sight of a pale, kind face and slightly disheveled robes.

"Oh, hello Remus," she said breathlessly. "I didn't….I mean…."

"Oh it's quite alright," Remus replied, slightly amused. "I completely understand. Why I've continued to hang out with them all these years, I will never figure out."

Lily chuckled, relieved. Eager to change the subject, she asked, "Have you started on Sluggy's essay yet?"

"Oh no, I've actually been having trouble deciding on whether to do it on Chinese Chomping Cabbage or Mandrakes. Do you think you could-"

The rest of his question was lost as he was startled by a reddish glow around Lily, and her face showed that the same was happening to him. Suddenly, the library dissolved in a blur of color.

"Arthur!" Molly cried frantically, trying to wrestle a screaming Percy into his high chair. "ARTHUR!"

"Ouch Mummy, stop screaming, you're hurting my ears!" piped a small voice from the door as Charlie entered the kitchen.

"Well your father will be late if he doesn't hurry up!" cried Molly, flustered. "William! Go fetch your father please, I need his help before he leaves!" Bill, eager to escape the scene, rushed up the stairs. Molly turned to Charlie. "Now dear, I need you to stay right here while I fetch some eggs from the chickens. Make sure Percy doesn't get out."

Reluctantly, Charlie agreed. But Molly had just reached the door when a pop made her turn around. Charlie and Percy had gone. "CHARLES WEASLEY-" Molly began, but before she could continue, the kitchen of the Burrow around her twisted away.

Alice Rogers and Frank Longbottom stood together in the greenhouses. Frank said he was there for Herbology tutoring, but really, he just wanted to spend some extra time with Alice. Her wavy dark hair, kind round face, and brilliant smile that lit up any room were just some of the reasons that he fell for her. He was lost in her beauty when-

"Frank? Frank, are you even listening to me?" She giggled at his utterly confused expression. "I was SAYING, that when Mandrakes get to a certain age, they will move into each others' pots. And that's when you know that they're at full maturity. Now, Venomous Tentacula has some amazing properties-"

What those properties were, Frank never learned. For Alice started to glow red, and with a pop, the greenhouses disappeared.

Minerva McGonagall was striding along towards the headmaster's office. Horace had just come to her with a story most disturbing, involving a couple of students in his house and a certain deadly club that may or may not be practicing Dark magic. It was, of course, out of her hands, seeing as no Gryffindors were involved. But she could not just sit by and watch this happen. She intended to warn Albus forthwith, but never quite got that far. When the gargoyle guarding his office came into view, the entire corridor spun in a whirl of color and disappeared.

James landed heavily on the floor of a handsomely furnished room. It looked familiar, very familiar. But before he could think where he had seen it before, his best mate landed beside him.

"Hey Prongs, what're we doing in your house?" asked Sirius. James gasped, but before he could comment, Lily and Remus joined them.

"YOU!" Lily shrieked, looking around and spotting James. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? WHERE AM I? LET ME OUT!" Remus lay a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Lils, calm down, I don't think James had anything to do with this. He looks just as confused as we feel, and-" He broke off as five red-haired people appeared in the room.

"Molly?" asked a bemused Arthur. "Where are- Well, hello you four!" He cried, spotting the teenagers. "Do you have any idea where we are?"

They only had time to shake their heads negative when Alice and Frank appeared, followed closely by Minerva.

"Ok, what is happening and why are we all in my house?" asked James, a little sharply.

"Your house?" sneered Lily. "Isn't it obvious? We're in King's Cross!"  
"King's Cross? I thought it was the greenhouses," said Alice, concerned.

Their surroundings dissolved and reformed into a large, airy space with benches, reminiscent of King's Cross station. A small square was formed by some handsome sofas and squashy armchairs that looked as if they could belong in either the Gryffindor common room or the living room back at Potter Manor. Exotic plants surrounded the square, making it seem like a jungle of sorts. The whole space seemed grand, while at the same time homey. A mahogany table stood in the middle of the square, with a stack of books in it.

Remus looked perplexed. "It appears….as if this space is made of a place that is near and dear to each of our hearts. Potter Manor, the Gryffindor common room, the Herbology greenhouses, maybe even something reminiscent of the Burrow in the homey feel."

But Minerva, meanwhile had crossed to the tables and picked up the topmost- and thinnest- book. "Harry Potter," she read aloud. "Mr. Potter, is this your idea of a joke? Are we here to read about your relatives?"

James looked slightly abashed. "No, Professor. In fact, I don't have a relative named Harry."

Lily sat down with her arms tightly crossed, but jumped back up again with a gasp. She picked up a piece of paper that had been laying on her armchair and read it aloud. "Welcome to the InBetween. I've brought you here because the books that lay before you involve each of you in some way or another. In order to leave the InBetween, you must read through the books. I hope that eventually you enjoy your time here! – H.G."

After a good deal of squabbling and some arguing, it was decided that they would have to stay and read, no two ways about it.

"I shall start," said Minerva, reaching for the topmost book again.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I totally forgot my disclaimer in the first chapter. …Oops. So, if I owned the words in bold, I'd be a wealthy English woman. I am none of those things, therefore I do not own the words in bold. Or the characters. Or the places. This goes for all chapters! Also, I feel like this is a huge amount of comments crammed into this one chapter. Let me know if it's too much original content. Any other characters you'd like to see (I have a request for Albus)? Review, review, review! ~ Romulus

**CHAPTER ONE **

McGonagall began:

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

"Oh these people sound VERY pleasant…" muttered Sirius.

"SHH!" hissed Lily, still rather agitated.

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. **

"Charming," shuddered Alice.

**Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors.**

Lily shuddered at this. This woman sounded horrid. Horrid but…. Familiar in a way?

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. **

"OI!" shouted James. "What's wrong with the Potters?"

Lily snorted derisively. "Oh trust me. PLENTY."

**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, **

"Oh I pity that poor woman," said Lily.

**but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. **

"Well from what we've read, that's a very, very good thing," muttered Sirius.

**The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"Excuse me?" said Molly in surprise. "Quite frankly, it seems as if it would be the other way around!"

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. **

Remus perked up. Mysterious things, all around the country? What could possibly be happening?

**Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

"Oh these people DO sound dreadful," said Alice. "Why on Earth do we have to read about them? I thought this book was about James' relative!"

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed,**

**1****because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. **

The women in the room shuddered at this, and even the men were looking a little wary.

**"Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. **

"He's condoning that?" exclaimed Arthur in disbelief, slightly disturbed by this man's behavior.

**He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar - a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen - then he jerked his head around to look again. **

Alice giggled. "Delayed reaction much?"

**There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light. Mr. Dursley blinked and**

**stared at the cat. It stared back. **

"Hey, we know a cat that stares really well, don't we guys?" laughed James as Minerva glared at him over her spectacles. "We've seen it plenty of times!"

**As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive - no, looking at the sign; cats couldn't read maps or signs. Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

"Just for that, I hope he doesn't get it, whatever it is," snorted Sirius.

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. **

Frank looked confused at this. "What's so strange about cloaks?"

Lily sighed, but she was used to questions like this. "Muggles don't wear cloaks, they prefer jackets or coats to keep warm."

"Oh," replied Frank, looking slightly sheepish.

**Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes - the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt - these people were obviously collecting for something...**

**yes, that would be it. **

Sirius gave a sharp bark of laughter. "I'm not so sure that's it!" he said in a sing-song voice.

**The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

"Hmph, one-track mind," snorted Frank. "I expected nothing less from this one."

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. He didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open- mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. **

Minerva paused at this. "What on EARTH is causing people to be so careless? We might be found out!" she exclaimed, nostrils flaring dangerously.

Surprisingly, it was Sirius who spoke up. "Maybe, if we keep reading, it'll all…you know…get explained…" he finished uncomfortably.

"Yes….yes I suppose you're right," replied Minerva, to the surprise of all.

**Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime. Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. **

"This man," said Alice, "is horrible. I certainly hope he isn't going to be in this book much longer."

**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.**

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on ****his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard-"**

"**Yes, their son, Harry-"**

"What?" said James sharply, suddenly uneasy. "What about us? What's happened?"

Remus laid a comforting hand on his shoulder, but had no words to say to ease his friend's troubled thoughts. He just motioned for Minerva to continue reading.

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking... no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. **

"Oh this is just too much," spat Lily, uncrossing her arms and glaring at the book. "He may be a Potter, but he's your FAMILY for God's sake, and you don't even know his name?"

James gave her a weak smile that she didn't return, so Minerva continued.

**He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her - if he'd had a sister like that... but all the same, those people in cloaks...**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

"Oh no, I hope they're ok!" exclaimed Sirius. "I mean, getting hit by an elephant like that can't feel good." Even Minerva chuckled a little at that.

**"Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. **

"From what we've seen of him, he'll probably feel less sorry after he realized that," said Frank bitterly.

**He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! **

Lily and Alice squealed, Molly clapped her hands over her mouth, Minerva's hands started to tremble, and for once the Marauders were lost for words. Until…

"HE'S GONE, WOO-HOO!" whooped Sirius. Lily was too busy jumping up and down with Alice to tell him to be quiet. James sat there stunned. Voldemort, gone. Finally. After all this loss and terror, he was gone. But he couldn't shake the feeling that something was not quite right…

After several minutes of celebrating, Minerva calmed the rest down enough to allow her to continue.

**Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"**

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. **

"His face must have been priceless!" laughed Sirius, still in a very good mood.

**He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping**

**he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw - and it didn't improve his mood - was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

"Professor!" James exclaimed suddenly. "It's you, you have markings around your eyes too!" Everyone stared at him. "What?...Didn't….didn't anyone else pay attention during the Animagus speech in third year?" he asked, slouching in his seat to avoid the stares of disbelief that he had bothered to listen to or remember anything from a class.

Minerva allowed him a small smile at this. "Thank you for paying attention, Mr. Potter. I do indeed have markings similar to those described, though I can't imagine what I would be doing there."

**"Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly. The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. **

"Y'know James, you might be right," conceded Sirius. "We've gotten that look plenty of times before!"

**Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!"). **

"And that's something to be proud of?" asked Molly incredulously. "He sounds absolutely dreadful!"

**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news: **

**"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

"It made their news?" hissed Minerva. "Honestly, I understand the celebration, but really! A fine thing if on the day he finally disappears, we're all found out!"

**"Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early - it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters...**

"Even the dumbest of them all can connect the dots, this could be serious!" said Frank, now slightly concerned.

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er - Petunia, dear - you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

"Now really," said Lily indignantly. "How could she possibly justify that?" For some reason she couldn't understand, she felt for this mystery woman. No one deserved to be ignored and hated by family. Sort of like her and her sister, she thought sadly.

**"No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

**"Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls... shooting stars... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today..."**

**"So?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

**"Well, I just thought... maybe... it was something to do with... you know... her crowd."**

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. **

"Coward," snorted Sirius. Arthur looked down. As much as he disliked this Dursley man, he could understand being afraid of a formidable wife.

**Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son - he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

**"I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

**"What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

**"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

Lily was disliking this woman more and more by the second. "I, for one, think it's a wonderful name," she said, shooting a look at James. He couldn't quite decipher what was being said by that look, so he just smiled a thanks at her.

**"Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."**

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

**Was he imagining things? **

"Of course not, you don't _believe _in it," sneered Sirius, with a haughty look that resembled his family's more than usual.

**Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did... if it got out that they were related to a pair of - well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about**

**them and their kind... He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on - he yawned and turned over - it couldn't affect them...**

Remus snorted. "He just jinxed it."

**How very wrong he was.**

"Told ya," said Remus with a smirk.

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

"No cat is that still. I must admit, I'm impressed with your patience, Professor," said James.

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

"Looks like this is what you've been waiting for," said James, with a mixture of excitement and apprehension. He was still waiting to find out how he of all people was involved.

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. **

"That sounds like…"

**This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

"Yup, thought so," finished Frank.

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. **

"He likely didn't care," snorted Minerva. If truth be told, she was sometimes slightly amused by the eccentric Headmaster's antics.

**He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. **

**He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness. **

"Whoa…." breathed Sirius. "Imagine the pranks we coul-" he quickly changed tact under McGonagall's stern eye. "That's dead useful to society, that is. I'm sure there are tons of wholesome ways to use such a magnificent instrument!"

Minerva turned back to the book, but she could be heard muttering, "Seven years and the boy still can't lie convincingly."

**Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. **

Lily snorted, thinking it would likely give Mrs. Dursley a heart attack to see that man walking down her quiet, normal street. "Pity she can't," she mumbled.

**Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

**"Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

"YES I knew it!" exclaimed James.

"I think we all did, Potter," said Lily, annoyed (albeit a little less venomously than she would have earlier).

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

**"How did you know it was me?" she asked. **

**"My dear Professor, I 've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

**"You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

**"All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

"Fooood….." drooled Sirius.

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

**"Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no - even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls... shooting stars... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent - I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

The Marauders and Alice laughed. "Good old Diggle," James chortled. "He was never afraid to help us out with a prank!"

"How do you know him, Alice?" asked Remus curiously.

"He was in my house, Hufflepuff," replied Alice merrily. "We all knew Diggle!"

**"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."**

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. **

"**Hey, that's sort of similar to what you said earlier," pointed out Frank.**

**I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"**

**"It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

**"A what?" **

**"A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of"**

**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops. **

"It certainly isn't," sniffed the McGonagall in the room. Everyone else laughed at that.

**"As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone -"**

**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You- Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort." **

Arthur, Molly, Alice, and Minerva flinched a bit at the name, which Sirius tried his best not to scoff at.

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."**

"Which is one of the many reasons why we admire him," said Sirius proudly, gesturing to himself and the other two Marauders.

**"I know you haven 't, said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, Voldemort, was frightened of."**

**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

**"Only because you're too - well - noble to use them."**

"He sure is, he would NEVER use any of the tactics that You-Know-Who does," stated Arthur emphatically, and the rest of the room murmured their assent.

**"It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

Lily and Alice giggled at that.

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumors that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

The room held their collective breath. This was what they all wanted so badly to know.

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. **

"Of course not, rumors can be terribly misleading," said Minerva.

"Professor, please…" pleaded James. He suspected his involvement was about to be discussed, and he was anxious to know what it was.

**Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

**"What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter**

"Wait, WHAT?" shrieked Lily, jumping up from her chair. "Go back." McGonagall reread the last few words, leaving Lily standing there with her mouth hanging open. "Have I gone INSANE? Have I lost my MIND?" She whipped around to face Alice, whom she was very good friends with. "WHY didn't you stop me? I've obviously been bewitched! It must be the Confundus Charm or the Imperius Curse, he's too abysmal at Potions to make a Love Potion," she continued, turning back around and muttering furiously.

James, meanwhile, was being heartily congratulated by Sirius and Remus for finally achieving what he'd been working at for five years. He couldn't keep the huge smile off his face, though he was quite worried that Evans would curse him at any second.

Minerva suddenly looked very grave, for she had read ahead while this exchange was taking place. "Miss Evans, sit down," she said sharply. "There's more." Lily sat down, arms tightly crossed and glaring over at James.

**are - are - that they're - dead."**

Silence lay heavy upon the whole room at these words. Then Molly and Alice began to cry, as the men looked grim and sad. James was shocked into a stupor at these words. He glanced at Lily and saw tears glinting in her eyes, her mouth slightly open in shock. He hesitated, then got up and sat by her. He put his arm around her slowly, hoping she wouldn't cringe away. She stiffened, then relaxed a bit.

She was having an intense internal battle. The tears were threatening to spill over, and she didn't want anyone to see her lose control. Her only option was to bury her head in the nearest available surface- James' shoulder. His cologne was familiar to her, and she felt as if she'd smelled it somewhere before….then it clicked. Last year, when Professor Slughorn had showed them Amortentia, she had smelled something very similar to what she was now. She sobbed as something inside her broke, and she let herself feel something she had been ignoring for years: love.

After a few minutes, Minerva had gathered herself enough to continue.

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

**"Lily and James... I can't believe it... I didn't want to believe it... Oh, Albus..."**

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know... I know..." he said heavily.**

Through their sorrow, Lily and James felt a deep affection for their professors. They were touched that they cared so much.

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. **

"NO!" Lily screamed. "Not my baby!" And she sobbed even harder into James' shoulder. Molly jumped up to comfort her. She knew how she would feel if something happened to Bill or Charlie or Percy.

**But - he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. **

Lily looked up, tears still streaking down her face. "….What? He's….he's not dead?"

**No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone.**

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

**"It's - it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done... all the people he's killed... he couldn't kill a little boy? **

"My son…my son killed Voldemort?" asked James in disbelief.

"He's officially the coolest kid ever," said Sirius, in an attempt to cheer up.

**It's just astounding... of all the things to stop him... but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

**"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

**"Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"**

**"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

The room was in an uproar over this.

"Send him to me!" Remus and Sirius each shouted.

"I mean, really, what's one more child? I guarantee we could care for him better than THOSE people would!" cried Molly.

"You will NOT leave him with my devil of a sister!" yelled Lily. "He can't possibly have a good life there!"

"Albus, really? What on EARTH are you thinking?" Minerva asked the book before beginning again.

**"You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore - you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

"Yes, PLEASE talk some sense into him! Is he going absolutely senile?" cried Lily.

**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

"A LETTER? How could you possibly explain this in a letter?" Lily and Minerva both interjected.

**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous - a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future - there will be books written about Harry - every child in our world will know his name!"**

James looked extraordinarily proud of his son, while Lily looked slightly sheepish that she had said the same thing as McGonagall twice.

**"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

"Well…" Frank said slowly, fearing Lily's wrath. "I suppose he has a point…."

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes - yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

"Oh he just had better not, if he does…" muttered Lily.

**"Hagrid's bringing him."**

**"You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

**"I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to - what was that?"**

Lily looked up, worried. Voldemort may have gone, but that didn't mean his followers had…

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a**

**headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky - and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

"I've always wanted one, imagine one that could FLY!" exclaimed Sirius.

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild - long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

Lily sniffed a little at this.

**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sit," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. **

"**YES! I GET THE FLYING BIKE!" yelled Sirius. He carried on like this for some time until Lily threatened him with a curse.**

"**I've got him, sir."**

**"No problems, were there?"**

**"No, sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. **

"Awwww!" squealed Alice and Molly.

**Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

"He has your hair, James," Lily said, looking up at the man who still held her.

"Poor bloke, he'll never be able to do anything with it," said Sirius sadly, sweeping a hand through his own well-manicured locks.

**"Is that where -?" whispered Professor McGonagall. **

**"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever." **

**"Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

**"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. **

Lily gave a watery chuckle. "Well at least he'll always be special, with that on his head. Maybe he can remember us by it," she finished sadly.

**Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with."**

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house. "Could I - could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

**"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"**

**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead - an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -"**

**"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two. **

"EXCUSE ME? He LEFT him on the DOORSTEP? Where rain or cold or burglars or kidnappers or even DEATH EATERS could get to him?" Lily was beyond consolation about this, and most of the others in the room were giving the book extremely bad looks. Molly, for one, wanted to go and give her former Headmaster a piece of her mind at once. After a while, Minerva began again, in a hurry to finish the chapter.

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

**"Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

**"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

**"I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

**"Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, **

"Urgh." Lily shuddered, remembering that piercing scream.

**nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley... **

"Brat," Molly muttered.

**He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter - the boy who lived!"**

"That's the end of the chapter," said Minerva thickly, wiping her eye on her sleeve and handing the book to Arthur, who was nearest.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: So sorry for the late update! I'm trying to update at least once a week, but obviously that hasn't been happening. I'll be sure to give this story more attention in the future. Also, it should pick up some once Harry gets to Hogwarts; I love that place to death and it's so much more interesting when he's there. Enjoy this chapter and please review! It keeps me motivated! (Thank you SO much to those who have reviewed/favorited this story so far.)

**CHAPTER TWO**

Arthur began.

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. **

"Maybe because there's another boy in them?" suggested Alice hopefully.

Sirius snorted; he thought this was highly unlikely.

**Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets - but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.**

"Oh," said Alice, crestfallen. Lily growled at the treatment her son was receiving.

**Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.**

**"Up! Get up! Now!" **

"Urgh," Lily shuddered. That was the last thing anyone would want to wake up to. It was highly unpleasant; she was surprised that the pitch of dear Petunia's voice never seemed to upset the neighborhood dogs.

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

**"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

"Wow." Frank was looking duly impressed. "That must have been a traumatic event, for it to imprint itself on his subconscious like that."

Catching sight of Lily and James' faces at these words, Alice nudged her boyfriend in the ribs, reminding him that a little bit of tact could go a long way in this situation.

**His aunt was back outside the door.**

**"Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

**"Nearly," said Harry.**

**"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. **

"He's eleven. He should NOT have to cook breakfast for the whole family!" hissed Lily.

**And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

Everyone snorted at the ridiculous pet name. Charlie, previously unnoticed, popped up from behind the sofa where he had been playing with his brothers. "Heeheehee! Who has the funny name, Mummy?"

Molly gave a start; in the grief and trauma of reading the previous chapter, she had quite forgotten about the children of her own.

"Goodness, honey, don't give Mummy such a start! It's nobody we know, don't worry. Here, I'll give you a place to play with Billy and Percy, ok?"

With this, she conjured a large playpen out of thin air and filled it with toys, which she placed her children in. She then stood uncertainly, watching them. "Erm, I don't quite want them….I mean, the last chapter….But I don't know….."

"Here," said Lily gently, understanding immediately. "Muffliato," she murmured. "There, now they won't be able to hear us, but we can hear them if there's a problem."

Molly looked at her gratefully and set back down, while James raised his eyebrows at her.

"Where did you-?"

"Shhh," his girlfriend cut him off and smiled coyly. "I have some secrets. Now, if you don't mind continuing, Arthur?"

**Harry groaned. "What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door. **

**"Nothing, nothing..." Dudley's birthday - how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. **

"As organized as his father, I see," commented Remus, amused at the similarity.

**He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.**

"EXCUSE ME?" This was yelled – screamed, really – by not only Lily, but also James and Molly, while Alice looked equally furious. Sirius and Remus were growling, and Minerva's mouth had formed the thinnest of lines, her face tinged red at the cheeks with suppressed rage.

"PETUNIA, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU! DO YOU UNDERSTAND? I AM GOING TO HEX YOU SO HARD, SEVERUS WILL HAVE LOOKED LIKE AN ANGEL COMPARED TO ME! IN FACT-" but she was stopped when Sirius grabbed her arm.

"Lily! Stop!" She looked at him in shock. Surely he, of all people, wasn't about to teach her how to behave? His face then split into a malicious grin. "You're not doing anything without me."

She looked at him for a minute, as if appraising him, then finally said, "Fine. I daresay your devilish mindset will be of help in this situation." And with that, she sat back down, motioning for a rather taken-aback Arthur to continue.

**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. **

"Don't ask," said Lily to Frank before he could open his mouth. "I doubt it's important anyways."

**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise **

"Like father, like son," said James scathingly.

**- unless of course it involved punching somebody. **

Molly narrowed her eyes. "That better not include…"

**Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.**

"Well, at least there's that," sighed James resignedly. "Hey, I wonder if that speed goes for a broom, too?" He looked extremely excited at the prospect.

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, **

"No proper clothing? That's ok," said Lily. Catching sight of everyone's shocked face, she continued, "Go on, Petunia, dig your hole deeper. You'll get yours." And anyone who saw her steely gaze then had no doubt that she was dead serious.

**and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. **

James gave a soft gasp. "He has your eyes, Lily," he said, gazing into the depthless emerald eyes that seemed to reflect his very being back at him. He was extremely happy his son inherited that from her.

**He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. **(Sirius let out a rather animalistic growl at this.) **The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

"I hope that was explained in the letter," Lily fretted.

**"In the car crash when your parents died," **

The room was in an uproar at these words. It seemed everyone had something to say about this other than Lily herself. Stunned beyond words, all she could do was sit there as tears fell silently down her cheeks.

"A car crash, kill Lily and James? That's nothing more than a bald-faced lie, a scandal, an outrage!" cried Minerva, looking quite outraged indeed.

When Arthur found it within himself to keep his voice steady, he continued.

**she had said. "And don't ask questions."**

**Don't ask questions - that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.**

Remus and Minerva, as the intellectuals of the room, looked affronted at this. How on Earth was one to learn if you weren't allowed to ask questions?

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon. "Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

Sirius and Remus laughed particularly hard at that, while James looked mildly affronted; it would never work.

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way - all over the place.**

"It's a shame," sighed Sirius, "but we can't all have the hair of a male model." Everyone barely repressed a snort at this, and James reached over to muss up said "male model" hair. "HANDS OFF!" yelped Sirius, jumping up while everyone else laughed outright at him.

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. **

"How revolting," shuddered Alice.

**Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel - Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**

The room roared with laughter at this.

"P-P-Prongs!" gasped Sirius, breathless. "You-your son-brilliant!"

"He gets it from you, Lily!" said Remus through his laugher. "Always the cheeky one!"

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

**"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."**

"Excuse me?" Molly looked up incredulously. "Is he really disappointed with that?" She felt a mixture of anger at his audacity and sadness that she would never be able to give any of her own children anything like that.

**"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mommy and Daddy."**

**"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**

"Good self-preservation skills," commented Frank. James felt a pang of annoyance. Self-preservation. That sounded like a slimy Slytherin trait.

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?''**

"It most certainly is not! It's an absolutely horrid way to raise a child, and honestly, I'm appalled!" Molly said, indignant.

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty ... thirty..."**

Remus looked faintly ill at the thought of someone not being able to do basic maths.

**"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

**"Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled. "Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" **

Now it was Arthur's turn to look sick. He could never imagine someone condoning those actions. He may give in to Molly quite often, but that didn't mean he was the kind of man who would let something like that go.

**He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. **

Frank looked at Lily expectantly, but she looked as blank as he felt.

"I have no idea what most of that is, they must be invented after our time," she said apologetically.

**He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch **

Molly looked puzzled. "Why, he's not turning seventeen, is he?" No one bothered to answer her.

**when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

"Good," said Lily, giving a savage nod of approval at her sister's displeasure.

**"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

"He HAS a name," Molly said coldly.

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. **

"Who wants to bet Harry doesn't get to go?" asked Sirius with a snarl.

**Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.**

"URGH, cats!" spat Sirius. "Disgusting! Oh, no, besides you of course, Professor!" he said, catching sight of Minerva's icy glare at this slight upon her Animagus.

**"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. **

"Because that's PERFECTLY logical," said Lily in a voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Considering he's a Potter, that's actually not that far-fetched," muttered Remus to Sirius, who sniggered.

**Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.**

"Harry, be polite," said Lily distractedly, still mad at Petunia.

**"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested. **

**"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

**The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there - or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.**

The room hissed their disapproval at this.

"He doesn't even get basic human respect, that's disgusting," said Alice with obvious distaste.

**"What about what's-her-name, your friend - Yvonne?" **

**"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**

**"You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

Barely stifled derisive laughter sounded through the room, which came surprisingly from Minerva. "I'm sorry," she said when she realized everyone was staring at her, "I just find it highly unlikely – and disappointingly so – that he would be allowed that."

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.**

**"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

**"I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.**

Lily gasped and stared at the book in horror.

"What's wrong, Lily?" asked James, concerned.

"That evil, evil woman," she whispered, her eyes filling with tears. When everyone else looked confused, she went on. "House blown up. She's insinuating that he'd do something like that because he's a wizard. Because….because of what happened to us," she said in a voice that shook with emotion.

Sirius growled as the rest of the room remembered Hagrid's words from the last chapter: "House was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right…."

**"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "... and leave him in the car..."**

**"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone..."**

"HE'S NOT AN ANIMAL!" yelled James indignantly. He quickly and unconsciously shot Remus a look, afraid that the animal comment would have offended him, but the werewolf had a look of anger on his face that James knew had nothing to do with anything he had said. The look, however, had not gone unnoticed by Frank, who wondered whether animals were a sensitive subject for Remus due to his misbehaving rabbit he had at home. It was strange, though, because Remus always seemed to thoroughly enjoy Care of Magical Creatures….

**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying - it had been years since he'd really cried - but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

"If Charlie even TRIED that…" muttered Molly.

**"Dinky Duddydums, **

At these words, the whole room burst out laughing. Even McGonagall couldn't keep a smile off of her face.

"P-p-petunia and her r-r-ridiculous nick-nicknames!" spluttered Lily, doubled over laughing.

When Arthur could breathe once again, he continued.

**and don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

**"I... don't... want... him... t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp- spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.**

"That nasty brat," said the normally quite kind Alice, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

**Just then, the doorbell rang - "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically **

"Cue the end of the tantrum," said Frank wryly.

**- and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. **

James, Sirius, and Remus burst out laughing. "He sounds like Peter!" James said. He suddenly looked around as if just realizing something. "Hey, why isn't he here?"

"Well this H.G. person must not have found him important to include. He probably doesn't feature prominently in these books," said Remus, although he himself was slightly wrong-footed by their good friend's lack of inclusion.

**He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. **

The marauders looked distinctly unimpressed by this information. All of a sudden, this unpleasant-sounding boy was nothing like Peter in their eyes.

**Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**

"Of course he did," snorted Molly while Alice rolled her eyes.

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. **

Lily looked down, upset. Harry would have been raised in the wizarding world, of course, but she would have made sure that he would have enjoyed some of the finer points of a Muggle childhood, including the zoo. She would have taken him MUCH before he was eleven.

**His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

**"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy - any funny business, anything at all - and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

"Try it," growled Remus menacingly. It felt like he was in a prison inside his own body once every month, so being locked up was something he felt very strongly about.

**"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly."**

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.**

"If she ignored his accidental magic, she saw me, she saw me for years, she knows it…" Lily kept up a steady stream of angry comments under her breath.

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, **

"Potter hair." James smiled proudly.

**had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." **

Lily glowered at this, and James hugged her tighter to him to prevent her from grabbing the book and doing extensive damage to it.

**Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses. Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. **

James and Lily let out a breath they didn't realize they'd been holding.

**He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

Remus was breathing rather quickly and trying to keep his composure at this.

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls)**

Lily snorted at this. Petunia's fashion sense obviously never changed.

**- The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

"Thank goodness for her sake," said Sirius.

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. **

"What?" The whole room looked confused at this. The school must not be very high, perhaps Harry had done an accidental Bouncing Charm?

**Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. **

Minerva gasped in spite of herself. "That is some VERY impressive magic. It seems that your son is quite extraordinary."

James and Lily looked distinctly proud of their son, despite the fact that Lily's face was white at the thought of her son on top of a chimney.

**The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid- jump.**

Lily quite wished at this point that her son would have had his own Sev, someone to tell him what all this unusual stuff really meant.

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.**

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. **

"That's gotta do wonders for the kid's self-esteem," Sirius snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Well at least when people are talking about you, it means they're thinking about you," said Alice diplomatically. "At least, that's what my mother always said." Sirius just rolled his eyes some more.

**This morning, it was motorcycles.**

Sirius muttered something that sounded like "Nothing wrong with them, you bloody walrus."

**"... roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

**I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

"Bad idea, Harry," warned Frank.

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"**

**Dudley and Piers sniggered. I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."**

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon - they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

Lily frowned at this obvious slight on her son's magical abilities.

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance **

"They better have gotten Harry one," growled Remus.

**and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. **

"Hmph. Well, it's not chocolate, but it'll do," huffed Remus, slightly mollified. Sirius smiled at his best mate's chocolate obsesson.

**It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**

Sirius let out a huge laugh that sounded like a dog's bark. "I'm glad got that from you, Evans! Jamesie here would never have thought of something that funny!

James tried to look affronted, but couldn't keep from smiling; Lily's cheek was one of the things he loved about her, and it was good to see it passed down to their son.

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. **

The room frowned at this. Even in the middle of a crowded zoo, in the presence of adults that were supposed to be responsible for him, Harry still felt afraid of being victimized.

**They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, **

"This boy just keeps getting worse," sighed Molly.

**Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.**

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

"Oh no," moaned Lily, and braced herself for whatever was going to come. If he let an animal out on accident….that might be too much for her to handle.

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone.**

Alice shuddered. She hated reptiles of all kinds.

**Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can **

Alice hid her head in Frank's shoulder.

**- but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.**

"But still…" she said weakly, peeking out from behind Frank.

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

**"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

**"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

"Taking orders from your kid, you should be ashamed of your parenting skills," Molly reprimanded.

**"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

"Oh, poor BABY," said Frank scathingly.

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself - no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**

"Nice to know he's such an optimist," said Lily, without much enthusiasm.

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

**It winked.**

Everyone in the room looked at one another, astonished.

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.**

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:**

**"I get that all the time."**

"How can he get that from a look?" asked James weakly.

**"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

"Don't talk to it, please don't talk to it, Harry!" pleaded Lily.

**The snake nodded vigorously. "Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. **

The room was silent at this interaction. It was absolutely bizarre, even in the wizarding world.

**Harry peered at it.**

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil. "Was it nice there?"**

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see - so you've never been to Brazil?"**

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump.**

**"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"**

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.**

Sirius immediately had a mental image of a very large, very pompous blonde penguin.

**"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. **

The smile caused by the image was wiped from Sirius' face as he glared at the book.

**Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened - one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.**

Lily gasped. "What happened?"

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. **

Alice shrieked and stood on the couch behind Frank as if the snake was in the very room as the Marauders laughed.

**People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**

"As they very well should!" screamed Alice. Frank winced; she was right beside his ear.

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come... Thanksss, amigo."**

James' stomach felt like it was filled with ice as his fears were confirmed. Everyone turned to stare at him and Lily. How could that happen?

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. "But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were**

**all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, **

"If only," sighed Sirius, trying to lighten the tension in the room.

**while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. **

"Well he DOES look like a rat," Remus observed. "Probably thought he was a snack.

**But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"**

"NO, he wasn't!" said James hotly. "He couldn't have been, it's impossible!"

Sirius knew he had, but wasn't stupid enough to point this out; he of all people knew best James' hatred of anything Dark. He had been the last to accept the fact that Remus was obviously a werewolf, even though he later became his most vehement supporter. It was a huge hurdle in James' life that only served to strengthen their friendship in the long run.

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go - cupboard - stay - no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, **

Remus looked murderous at this; locked up AND no food?

**and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**

"Sounds like us, eh James?" Sirius was trying to remind James that this was, indeed, his son, his ten-year-old son that couldn't possibly be Dark.

James smiled weakly at his best mate. He knew what Sirius was trying to do, and appreciated it immensely.

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. **

A mixture of outrage and sadness swept the room at this.

**He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding**

**flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead. **

Everyone paled. Frank was the first to speak. "That….that is….an extraordinary kid. Because…"

McGonagall continued, "of his mental capacity to remember all that, and the fact that he seems to have….have survived…." She broke off and couldn't continue.

There was an extremely somber mood among the readers now. The fact that Voldemort had used Avada Kedavra on a child, an innocent child…. And then that child had survived, a feat no one had ever done. Survived, and somehow beaten him, caused him to disappear. It was unthinkable.

Arthur took a deep breath. The chapter was almost over; he might as well continue.

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. **

Lily sobbed.

**He couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

"He doesn't know us….he doesn't even know us!" Lily's anguish at this was evident, and now Alice and Molly could be heard sobbing too. Even Minerva was seen swiping a handkerchief across her eyes.

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family. **

"I'm sure if we could, we would," Remus said softly to James, indicating Sirius and himself.

**Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. **

Alice and the Marauders laughed, thinking it was probably Dedalus.

**After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.**

"Careless," said Minerva with a huff.

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

"That's despicable," said Alice softly, looking over at a silently tearful Lily.

Sirius leaned over to James and said so softly that no one else could hear, "It doesn't matter. He's your son, Parselmouth or not. It means nothing. He's ten years old, he can't possibly be Dark. Harry's gonna grow up to do great things, maybe he'll even put this….oddity to his use."

James nodded, not altogether reassured, but certainly more so than he had been before. Sirius clapped him on the back as Arthur handed the book to Molly.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thanks so much to those who have reviewed, keep it coming! This chapter was a little faster, thank my snow days for that. I'll try to get the next one up soon. Enjoy! ~ Romulus

**CHAPTER THREE**

Molly took the book from her husband and began reading.

**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started **

"WHEN IS DUDLEY'S BIRTHDAY?" Lily demanded. Molly looked flustered.

"I don't… I don't believe it says, dear," she tried to soothe the angry red head.

"Well it must be around April or so, seeing as it was warm enough to go to the zoo for a day, and-" Frank was cut off by a not-so-gentle nudge from Alice.

"Please excuse Frankie dear," she said sweetly, smiling at Lily. "Molly, could you please continue?" Frank looked rightfully abashed.

**and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.**

"Absolutely horrid child, don't you think?" Arthur asked conversationally.

**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. **

"Ah the politics of the schoolyard," said Remus. "Almost as intelligent as the politics of real life."

**The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting.**

Lily fingered her wand. How delightful it would be to introduce them to some of her and Sev's creative hexes. Levicorpus, perhaps the Tongue Gluing Hex…

**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn't be**

**with Dudley. **

"He still doesn't know about Hogwarts?" asked Sirius incredulously.

"With his home life, did you really think he would?" Remus gave his best mate a look of pity.

"Well, one can hope," huffed Sirius, crossing his arms.

**Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school. Dudley thought this was very funny.**

**"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"**

**"No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it - it might be sick." **

The whole room was in gales of laughter at this, everyone holding their sides and tears streaming down some of the merrier faces.

"And the little Lily strikes again!" Remus gasped through his laughter.

**Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.**

"Good idea," said Frank, still chuckling.

**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's. Mrs. Figg wasn 't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. **

"The world is back in balance," Sirius nodded approvingly. Minerva snorted.

**She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.**

"Well…it was a nice thought," Lily said, pleased that her son was getting semi-good treatment for what seemed like the first time in his life.

**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. **

"Somebody please call the fashion police," Alice said, rolling her eyes.

**They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.**

"How?" asked James, confused and scornful at this practice.

"Might I remind you of the pieces of wood YOU students carry around, which you also use to attack each other," Minerva said sternly, piercing the Marauders with a glare over her glasses.

James flushed and looked down, muttering something about "Only sometimes…"

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, **

The room went through another round of hysterical laughter at this. Lily was appalled at her sister's nicknameing technique; how this boy had any friends was beyond her!

**he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh.**

"Oh trust me, Harry," said Sirius through his tears of laughter, "we're having no such problem!"

**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. **

"Well Petty's cooking was never any good," Lily laughed.

"Petty? I thought you used to call her Tuney?" asked Remus, curious at this change of nickname.

"Well after a certain incident that I will not go into detail with, I changed it. I find the new one better fits her personality," said Lily acidly.

Although they wished it weren't so, the others nodded in agreement. It did seem to fit this awful woman.

**It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.**

**"What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.**

Minerva's eyes flashed at that. As a teacher, she took that as an insult.

**"Your new school uniform," she said. Harry looked in the bowl again. "Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."**

"I love your son!" Sirius yelled, and everyone agreed.

**"Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."**

James snorted. "Doubt it."

**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. **

James nodded his approval.

**He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High - like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.**

Sirius snorted, causing Lily to glare at him. "Something funny, Black?"

"Of course-" Sirius began with a smirk, but then he caught a small movement of Lily's hand near her pocket. "Not. Of course not!" he corrected, flashing her a winning smile. The last thing he wanted to do was be on the receiving end of a Lily Evans hex. She settled down, glaring at Sirius still, and motioned for Molly to continue.

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.**

**They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat.**

**"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper. **

"Can he walk that far?" Frank asked innocently.

**"Make Harry get it." **

**"Get the mail, Harry." **

"He used his name!" Sirius mock gasped.

**"Make Dudley get it."**

"Good, don't give in without a fight, Harry," James said approvingly.

**"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."**

**Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. **

'Chaser material,' James thought with a grin. He really couldn't wait to see if Harry liked Quidditch.

**Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and - a letter for Harry.**

Sirius whooped. "This has to be it, happily ever after and all that!"

"Not so fast," warned Frank. "I doubt anything would come to Harry that easily."

Lily gave him a nasty look for his pessimism.

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? He had no friends, no other relatives - he didn't belong to the library, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. **

"Well neither has Moony, but that's for another reason entirely," Sirius grinned at his friend. Remus aimed a half-hearted blow at him, but he smiled because he knew it was true; he was always very responsible with things like that.

**Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

**Mr. H. Potter**

**The Cupboard under the Stairs**

**4 Privet Drive**

**Little Whinging**

**Surrey**

"Well that certainly leaves no room for mistake," commented a surprised Frank. "Mine was never that exact."

"We take care to ensure that our addresses to Muggle homes are very precise, for many reasons. It helps the owl get to the correct address, and makes the Muggle parents sure that there was no mistake. Clearly, if an address were so exact, it could not be an accident," Minerva enlightened.

"Mine was like that," said Lily. "A little creepy, but since I already knew it was coming, I wasn't that surprised," she finished without elaborating on how she had known she was a witch without first receiving the letter.

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp.**

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H.**

"Ah Hogwarts," sighed Sirius with a dreamy look on his face. "A true home."

**"Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own joke.**

"Oh yes, the very picture of amusement, that one," Alice said in a voice that dripped with sarcasm.

**Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.**

"Ah, no Harry!" groaned Sirius with a hand over his face. "Not where they can see!"

**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard.**

**"Marge's ill," he informed Aunt Petunia. "Ate a funny whelk. -." "Dad!" said Dudley suddenly. "Dad, Harry's got something!"**

Sirius heaved a great sigh. He hated when Frank was right.

**Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.**

"Excuse you!" Lily yelled.

**"That's mine!" said Harry, trying to snatch it back.**

**"Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. **

"That…" It seemed that Remus could not find words fit to describe how he felt about this man.

**His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge.**

Arthur looked faintly ill himself at this description of the man's face.

**"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.**

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise.**

**"Vernon! Oh my goodness - Vernon!"**

"Why that stupid, pompous, lying, faking, theatrical, dramatic, jealous HORSE!" Lily shouted. "She knew it all the time, she knew it was going to happen, it had to! She's so THICK!"

**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.**

"Did he…Did he really…I mean to say…Had it coming…But his father?" Arthur couldn't seem to articulate how he felt about that particular show of misbehaviour.

**"I want to read that letter," he said loudly. **

"**I want to read it," said Harry furiously, "as it's mine."**

"He makes a very good point, now give it to him you punk," snarled Sirius.

"Punk?" asked Remus, slightly amused.

"Unless you'd rather me say something worse?"

"No that's fine, really." Remus knew how foul Sirius' mouth could get, and thought that it was best to stay away from that in present company.

**"Get out, both of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.**

**Harry didn't move. "I WANT MY LETTER!" he shouted. **

"Awh, he has your temper, Evans!" cooed Sirius.

"One more word, just one more…" Lily left the threat unfinished.

**"Let me see it!" demanded Dudley.**

**"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. **

"Awh poor Dudders," said Alice with a smirk.

**Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, **

"Just because he's a huge whale," said Sirius with disgust.

**so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.**

**"Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address - how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don't think they're watching the house?"**

"She knows very well," Lily glared at the book.

**"Watching - spying - might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.**

**"But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don't want -"**

Lily smirked as she remembered the last time Petty had written to Hogwarts.

**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen.**

**"No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer... Yes, that's best... we won't do anything..."**

"I was hoping they'd do that," Minerva smiled with grim satisfaction. Everyone else looked at her, wondering what was going to happen. None of them had ever heard of an instance like this.

**"But -"**

**"I'm not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"**

**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he'd never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.**

"He fit?" Frank asked incredulously.

**"Where's my letter?" said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. "Who's writing to me?"**

**"No one. it was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon shortly. "I have burned it."**

"That's absolutely ridiculous, with that address, it could not have possibly been a mistake," said Minerva, glaring over her spectacles as if daring anyone to contradict her.

**"It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily, "it had my cupboard on it."**

Minerva nodded curtly as if this proved her point.

**"SILENCE!" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling. He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful.**

"I hope it was," Sirius muttered darkly.

**"Er - yes, Harry - about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking... you're really getting a bit big for it... we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley's second bedroom."**

Lily and Molly exploded at these words. The words "second", "evil", "cow", "abuse", and "disgusting" could be heard through the din, but that was about it. Everyone else was glaring at the book with all the hatred they could muster, and it was with reluctance that the women's respective husbands pulled them back down in their seats so they could continue reading.

**"Why?" said Harry.**

"Oh Harry," Remus sighed, "don't question it, just go with it!"

**"Don't ask questions!" snapped his uncle. "Take this stuff upstairs, now."**

**The Dursleys' house had four bedrooms: **

Lily glowered at this.

**one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn't fit into his first bedroom. **

Alice mimed retching at this example of the boy's spoiled upbringing.

**It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room. **

James looked down sadly. The Potters were quite wealthy; Harry would have grown up with so much more.

**He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbor's dog; **(Sirius winced.)** in the corner was Dudley's first-ever television set, which he'd put his foot through when his favorite program had been canceled; there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they'd never been touched.**

Remus looked aghast at the fact that someone could own books and not read them.

**From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, I don't want him in there... I need that room... make him get out..."**

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he'd rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.**

"I don't blame you, Harry," said Alice softly. "They will keep trying, won't they Professor?"

"Of course we will," replied Minerva. "Harry Potter not attend Hogwarts…bah!" She waved her hand as if to dismiss this ridiculous idea.

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back. **

Alice and Molly were particularly revolted by this information. That child had to go, they couldn't stand it if he was in this whole book.

**Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.**

**When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it. **

Remus muttered something that sounded like "Ulterior motives."

**They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive -'"**

"That idiot!" hissed James.

**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. **

"Go Harry!" Sirius yelled, pumping his fist in the air.

**After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand.**

"Ugh," Sirius huffed, sitting back down in disappointment.

**"Go to your cupboard - I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley - go - just go."**

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again? And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan.**

James, Sirius, and Remus looked excited at this. A little Marauder!

**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.**

**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first. **

"Good plan," Remus nodded approvingly.

**His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door -**

**Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat - something alive!**

Sirius burst into laughter. James didn't see what was so funny; this meant his son still didn't get his letter.

**Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face. **

Alice, Molly, Arthur, and Lily gasped and groaned in disappointment. They hadn't caught on until just now.

**Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do. **

"Rotten luck," Sirius said, finally done laughing.

**He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.**

"Oooh good, they're getting more insistent!" said Alice happily.

"**I want -" he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes. Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.**

**"See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't deliver them they'll just give up."**

Minerva snorted.

**"I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon."**

"Oh it won't," the professor said with a smile.

**"Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.**

"And I've never been more happy for that," Sirius said to general agreement and laughter.

**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom.**

James perked up. Maybe he'd get his letter soon after all!

**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises.**

"He's cracked!" Sirius shouted. He looked around expectantly, then pouted as he realized no one else got the pun. "Cracks around the doors….Cracked….Never mind," he muttered.

"Pathetic," chided James, shaking his head.

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. **

Lily laughed. "Oh I bet Petty is loving this! It's so…out of the ordinary!"

**While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, **

"Ah, so he's a brat as well as the kid?" Alice asked, raising an eyebrow.

**Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.**

**"Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.**

"I'm sure he's wondering the same thing, poor kid," said Frank.

**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy.**

"Why?" Arthur asked.

**"No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, "no damn letters today -"**

"Reeeeally?" he asked, looking excitedly at Lily. "So what happens when-"

Molly laid a hand on her husband's arm. "Later, sweetie," she said, with a look that gave no room for argument. Arthur sat back, disgruntled.

**Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. **

Sirius snorted. "Good."

**Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. **

Minerva looked surprised at this. "I don't think we've ever had to go this far before," she said.

**The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one.**

"Pick it up off the floor!" Sirius shouted in despair.

**"Out! OUT!"**

**Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall. **

"Don't touch my son, Dursley!" Lily snarled.

**When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor.**

**"That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his mustache at the same time. **

"My dear chap, I do believe that defeats the purpose of trying to speak calmly," Sirius said condescendingly.

"**I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!"**

"I'd be terrified and confused in that situation, that's not fair to the rest of the family!" said Molly indignantly.

**He looked so dangerous with half his mustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag.**

"It's about time!" Alice stated with obvious approval.

**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. **

Lily snorted at the thought of her sister being so uncomfortable.

**Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while. "Shake'em off... shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**

"He's cracked," Sirius said in a soft, amazed voice. There was no trace of a joke in his voice this time, he was legitimately concerned about what this crazed man could do to his godson.

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.**

Alice snorted. "Serves him right, having everything in life handed to him! He needs to know what the real world is like!"

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering...**

"Hmph," Molly said. "He should at least try to get some sleep."

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day. **

"Awh c'mon, that's not a breakfast!" Sirius whined. "When is he going to get some decent food?"

Although Lily hated to admit it to herself, she thought that it was very unlikely that her son would have a good meal until he got to Hogwarts. IF he got to Hogwarts…

**They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.**

**"'Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'undred of these at the front desk."**

**She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:**

**Mr. H. Potter**

**Room 17**

**Railview Hotel**

**Cokeworth**

"A hundred?" asked Frank, aghast.

Minerva frowned slightly. "Perhaps she was exaggerating a bit…"

**Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.**

**"I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room.**

"That's illegal," said Lily coldly, glaring at the book.

**Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage.**

"A parking garage? A bridge? Is he completely insane?" asked Remus. "What good will all that do?" No one had an answer.

**"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon. **

"Awh see? Even Dinky Duddydums has managed to figure it out!" said Alice.

**Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared.**

**It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley sniveled.**

**"It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television."**

"Moving Muggle pictures," Lily said before Frank could ask.

He looked bemused. "What's so special about moving pictures? They're everywhere."

Lily looked at him a little oddly. "Not only do these have sound, but Muggle pictures don't move, so these are different." Frank decided not to ask any further.

**Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday - and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of television - then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry's eleventh birthday. **

"Awww!" the women cooed. "Happy birthday, Harry!"

"I wonder what his other ones have been like," asked Sirius with a look of distaste at the book.

**Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun - last year, the Dursleys**

**had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks. **

Sirius wished his question had never been answered.

**Still, you weren't eleven every day.**

"No, I don't suppose you are," Remus sighed.

**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. **

"Not a good sign," Frank warned.

**He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought.**

**"Found the perfect place!" he said. "Come on! Everyone out!"**

**It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. **

"He's going to make them stay there? There?" Molly asked incredulously. Several others were muttering about this man's questionable sanity.

**One thing was certain, there was no television in there.**

**"Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!"**

"They're crossing the sea in a storm?" asked Alice, worried.

"It seems like it," answered Frank grimly.

**A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them.**

"Hedoesn't expect them to make it, that's just sick," Lily wrinkled her nose in disgust.

**"I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!"**

**It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. **

"He'll catch a cold!" fretted Molly.

**After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house.**

**The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.**

"That makes Grimmauld Place seem right cheery," muttered Sirius.

**Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas. **

"That's hardly anything!" Molly protested. Lily sighed; she hadn't expected anything less.

**He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shriveled up.**

**"Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.**

**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.**

"I'm sure we'll find a way," Minerva said when she noticed Alice and Lily's anxious looks, and James' troubled frown.

**As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second**

**room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.**

"This is worse than at home, they should be arrested for child abuse!" yelled Molly. Lily, weary of hearing about her son's mistreatment, just nodded resignedly.

**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. **

Molly fidgeted uncomfortably at that.

**Dudley's snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now.**

"Poor boy," Alice sighed.

**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did. **

James was struck by how severe it must be if Harry thought that the roof collapsing would be an improvement.

**Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow.**

Sirius perked up at this.

**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?**

"Oh I hope not," Lily worried.

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds... twenty ... ten... nine - maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him **

"Do it, kiddo!" exclaimed Sirius.

**- three... two... one...**

**BOOM.**

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

"Oh no, who is it?" asked Lily, slightly panicked.

"Here, I'll read next," said Alice, who was also looking concerned.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Wow, another fast update! While I'm not particularly proud of the chapter, I am rather proud of my speed. I guess that's the power of snow days and boredom. Enjoy!

**CHAPTER FOUR**

Alice opened her mouth to read, when Molly gasped. Her head snapped up to see what had upset the woman, and saw a bluish light appearing in the middle of their little square. Immediately, the men had their wands out and pointed at the light, Frank standing up to cover Alice, Arthur and James doing the same with Molly and Lily, respectively. Alice noticed a flicker of annoyance flash across her best friend's face, before she too stood up next to James and pulled her wand out.

The light flashed, and a rather aristocratic-looking boy appeared. He had an effortless air of superiority about him, but not exactly in a bad way. It was as if he knew he was better than you, but didn't quite care one way or the other. He looked to be about sixth year, maybe. He also looked like he was extremely confused as to where he was. He glanced around with a slight frown, until he caught sight of someone. His face relaxed and he grinned.

"Gonna hex me, Siri?" he asked. "I always thought that was Potter's job."

Sirius put his wand down slowly and crossed the square to embrace the boy.

"It'd be a right good round of fun, but maybe I'll wait till you deserve it," he joked with a smile.

Most of the room sat there, stunned. Who was this boy, and why was Sirius acting like they knew each other? Alice gasped softly as she realized the boy's school robes were trimmed in green. Sirius was friends with a Slytherin? Since when?

Sirius turned around and noticed everyone else's shocked expressions. "Guys, it's ok. This is my brother, Regulus."

Most everyone was still in shock at this revelation, but took this to make more since. All, except of course, James.

"But he's a bloody Slytherin!" he said in disbelief. "A true Black, through and through! Your mother's little puffed-up pureblood prat of a pet!"

Regulus' smile vanished and his demeanor became considerably more cool. His haughty expression was more pronounced than Sirius' ever was.

"I'm sorry you don't believe me worthy enough to be in your company, Potter," he said disdainfully. "Rest assured, if I could have chosen who to be magically summoned to against my will, you would not be very high on the list." He looked around. "I don't suppose any of you know where we are?"

Sirius looked excited at knowing something his brother didn't. He quickly explained about the InBetween and the books, including a summary of what had happened so far. At the end, Regulus looked curious.

"Yes, that's all very well, but what am I doing here? I don't have connections with anyone in here aside from you and Professor McGonagall, to an extent," he said looking around.

Sirius shrugged. "H.G. just said we all play a part in the books. Maybe we're all supposed to learn something from it. Change our lives. At least, I hope so."

Regulus' eyes widened slightly and he convulsively crossed his arms, left under right. No…this H.G. couldn't possibly know…it was just a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't even his choice. If he had wanted to remain at home…he wasn't a rebel, an outcast like Sirius. There was no way he could have avoided it.

"Oh…well, perhaps we should just read," he said slightly shakily. _Don't lose control, idiot, _he berated himself. "I mean, I DO have better things to do, I want to get out of here," he continued, recovering his former manner. He sat down next to Sirius, on the side that was closer to Remus and farther from James. He always hated the intellectual Marauder the least of them all.

Alice began.

**BOOM. They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake. "Where's the cannon?" he said stupidly.**

**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands - now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them.**

Lily gasped. "But there are children in there! Oh I wish you had taken Muggle Studies," she said exasperatedly when she had caught sight of Frank's confused look. "A rifle is a really dangerous thing that Muggles used to kill other things!"

Everyone was looking grave at this revelation.

**"Who's there?" he shouted. "I warn you - I'm armed!"**

**There was a pause. Then -**

**SMASH!**

**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor.**

Lily closed her eyes and wished with all her might that it wasn't something dangerous. Minerva, however, allowed herself a small smile. This should be Harry's backup plan, seeing as only one person she knew could bust a door down that easily.

**A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.**

"Hagrid!" the Marauders shouted happily. Lily gave a huge sigh of relief and smiled. It looked like things were looking up for her son.

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door, and fitted it easily back into its frame. **

James laughed easily now that the danger was past. "Good old Hagrid," he chuckled.

**The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.**

**"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey..."**

Lily laughed and shook her head. "Trust Hagrid to force his way into a hut on a rock in the middle of a stormy sea, and then ask for a cup of tea, as calm as you please."

Alice giggled. "Well he has a point, it must not have been an easy journey!"

**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear. "Budge up, yeh great lump," said the stranger.**

"Oh good, someone's going to put that brat in his place," said Arthur happily.

**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.**

Lily snorted. "Good luck with that, it's like hiding a bull behind a bean pole."

**"An' here's Harry!" said the giant.**

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.**

**"Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby," said the giant. "Yeh look a lot like yet dad, but yeh've got yet mom's eyes."**

James and Lily smiled sadly at that description, while Sirius laughed.

"Something funny, Black?" Lily asked angrily. "Oh, sorry," she said when she caught sight of Regulus, "I mean, Sirius?"

"It's just, that must be so awkward for some giant, hairy man break into your hut and announce that he knows your name and he knew you as a baby!" he said through his laughter. "Stranger danger much?"

Everyone else was just looking at him strangely, so Alice decided to continue.

**Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise.**

**I demand that you leave at once, sir!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"**

**"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said the giant; **

Everyone laughed appreciatively at this.

**he reached over the back of the sofa, jerked the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.**

"Oh thank God," sighed Lily, happy that the gun was out of the equation.

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

Molly giggled at that. She quite hated these people for treating Harry like that, and was happy for any reason that they experienced discomfort.

**"Anyway - Harry," said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, "a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here - I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right."**

"I bet it's not edible," said Remus doubtfully. "First of all, it's Hagrid. Second of all, he sat on it." He made a face of displeasure. "And third of all, it's _Hagrid_."

**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with Happy Birthday Harry written on it in green icing.**

"Aww, that's so sweet!" cooed Lily. "It's the thought that counts," she said when she caught sight of Remus' face.

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, "Who are you?"**

James laughed. "Well, I suppose that's a legitimate question!"

**The giant chuckled.**

**"True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts."**

Sirius smiled at the mention of his favorite place in the world.

**He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm.**

**"What about that tea then, eh?" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind."**

"No, they haven't got it, thank you for asking," said Lily coldly.

**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shriveled chip bags in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. **

Minerva clucked her tongue in disapproval but didn't say anything.

**It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.**

"Well at least some good came out of it," said Molly, noticing her former professor's expression.

**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs, and a bottle of some amber liquid that he took a swig from before starting to make tea. **

Regulus looked amazed, not being all that familiar with the gamekeeper. "He has all that in there?"

**Soon the hut was full of the sound and**

**smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. **

"NOT that he needs them," said Alice with disdain.

**Uncle Vernon said sharply, "Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley."**

**The giant chuckled darkly.**

**"Yet great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' anymore, Dursley, don' worry."**

Alice smiled. "Hagrid agrees, good."

**He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful, **

Lily and Molly sighed. It was sad that it had gotten to that point.

**but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant. Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, "I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are."**

"Tsk tsk, explain yourself already, Hagrid!" Sirius mock-scolded.

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.**

"Wonderful manners," Molly muttered.

**"Call me Hagrid," he said, "everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts - yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course."**

"Uh-oh," Sirius said, no longer joking. Regulus looked at his brother questioningly. "You'll see," was the only response he got.

**"Er - no," said Harry. Hagrid looked shocked. "Sorry," Harry said quickly."**

"So polite," Lily said proudly.

**"Sorry?" barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. "It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yet parents learned it all?"**

"Oh no, he's just making them dig their hole deeper," Sirius said regretfully, shaking his head.

**"All what?" asked Harry. **

**"ALL WHAT?" Hagrid thundered. **

Remus winced.

**"Now wait jus' one second!"**

**He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.**

"As they should," James said bitterly, frowning at the fact that Harry grew up not knowing anything about who he really was.

**"Do you mean ter tell me," he growled at the Dursleys, "that this boy - this boy! - knows nothin' abou' - about ANYTHING?"**

Frank laughed in spite of the situation. "He could've phrased that a bit better."

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad.**

Some people laughed at that. Frank was right, it did sound a bit like Hagrid was calling him dumb.

**"I know some things," he said. "I can, you know, do math and stuff." But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, "About our world, I mean. Your world. My world. Yer parents' world."**

**"What world?"**

"Aw c'mon Hagrid, you couldn't have expected him to know about that after his last two questions," said Sirius sadly.

**Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.**

**"DURSLEY!" he boomed.**

"And enter the outrage," Arthur said.

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like "Mimblewimble." Hagrid stared wildly at Harry.**

**"But yeh must know about yet mom and dad," he said. "I mean, they're famous. You're famous."**

"No, he doesn't," said Molly, looking down. "He doesn't know any of it."

**"What? My - my mom and dad weren't famous, were they?"**

**"Yeh don' know... yeh don' know..." Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare.**

**"Yeh don' know what yeh are?" he said finally. **

James tensed up, excited. Harry was finally going to find out!

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.**

**"Stop!" he commanded. "Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!"**

"As if that would stop Hagrid, now shut up!" James snapped.

**A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.**

**"You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?"**

"It is rather unbelievable, isn't it?" asked Sirius lightly, as if talking about the weather.

**"Kept what from me?" said Harry eagerly. **

**"STOP! I FORBID YOU!" yelled Uncle Vernon in panic. Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

"Ugh, your theatrics disgust me," Lily muttered, wrinkling her nose.

**"Ah, go boil yet heads, both of yeh," said Hagrid. "Harry - yet a wizard."**

"How blunt," Frank snickered.

"Oh like you'd have had any more tact," said Alice playfully, wiping the smile from Frank's face as everyone else laughed.

**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard.**

**"- a what?" gasped Harry.**

"It must be unbelievable," said Lily sadly. She, at least, had had Sev to tell her what she was beforehand. Poor Harry had never heard of such a thing before tonight.

**"A wizard, o' course," said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, "an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? **

Lily and James beamed as everyone in the room agreed. At least, mostly everyone. Only Sirius heard Regulus mutter something about "a talentless, bespectacled, messy-haired prat".

**An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter."**

"FINALLY!" Sirius cheered. Lily shushed him; she wanted to hear this.

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. **

Frank chuckled. "Precise as ever."

**He pulled out the letter and read:**

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**

**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**

"I see he's received a few more distinctions since our time," said Minerva, rather fondly.

**Dear Mr. Potter,**

**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.**

**Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31. Yours sincerely,**

**Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress**

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. After a few minutes he stammered, "What does it mean, they await my owl?"**

Frank snorted. "Don't laugh!" said Lily, rather fiercely. "Muggles don't use animals for communication, let alone owls!"

Frank looked bemused. "Well then what in Merlin's name DO they use? There's nothing as trustworthy and easy to use as an owl!"

Arthur looked excited. "See, I've read about this, they use-" He was cut off by his wife's hand over his mouth.

"Please continue, dear," she said sweetly to Alice.

**"Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me," said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet**

**another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl **

"What DOESN'T he have in there?" asked Regulus in amazement.

**- a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl - a long quill, and a roll of parchment. With his tongue between his teeth he scribbled a note that Harry could read upside down:**

**Dear Professor Dumbledore, Given Harry his letter. Taking him to buy his things tomorrow. Weather's horrible. Hope you're well. Hagrid**

James chuckled fondly. "Only Hagrid could be so nonchalant at a time like this. Talking about the weather, honestly."

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door, and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.**

"That's what I was trying to tell you about," said Arthur sulkily, wrenching away from his wife's grip. Molly just rolled her eyes.

**Harry realized his mouth was open and closed it quickly.**

**"Where was I?" said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.**

"Ugh, not him, I thought we were well shot of him!" groaned Alice.

**"He's not going," he said. **

"I'd like to see you stop him!" James challenged.

**Hagrid grunted. **

**"I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him," he said. **

**"A what?" said Harry, interested.**

"The boy doesn't even know what a Muggle is?" asked Regulus. "He practically is one!"

"I told you, his aunt and uncle never told him anything, so he had no chance to know," Sirius said with a glance at James, who was fingering his wand at the slight on his son's intelligence.

**"A Muggle," said Hagrid, "it's what we call nonmagic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever laid eyes on."**

**"We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish," said Uncle Vernon, "swore we'd stamp it out of him! **

"You can't stamp out magic, Petunia!" Lily exploded. She sat back and crossed her arms angrily, glaring into space and chewing her tongue.

**Wizard indeed!"**

**"You knew?" said Harry. "You knew I'm a - a wizard?" **

**"Knew!" shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. **

Lily stiffened. She thought she could see where this was going.

**"Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? **

"That vile woman!" gasped Molly as Alice looked aghast at her best friend.

"Lily is not dratted, not anything of the sort!" yelled James, putting an arm around the redhead.

"Thanks," she whispered, voice shaking slightly with suppressed rage.

**Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that-that school-and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was - a freak! **

Molly and Alice gasped again and James tightened his arm around Lily. Her eyes had lost their sparkle. _Let it all out,_ she thought. _Let all your bitterness, your jealousy, your poison out. Maybe you'll finally stop taking it out on your innocent nephew._

**But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!"**

"As they should be!" said Alice in defense of her friend.

**She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.**

"Oh trust me, she had," said Lily bitterly.

**"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as - as - abnormal **

"They're not abnormal," Remus growled dangerously.

**- and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!"**

Lily suddenly paled. "Oh no, oh no, not like that. He shouldn't have had to find out like that."

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, "Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!"**

Regulus' eyes widened. He would never have wanted to find out about his parent's deaths like that. Sure, he had never really liked them, but still…That was too harsh.

**"CAR CRASH!" roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. **

"They're in serious trouble," said Sirius sagely.

**"How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!"**

"Wow, he's famous!" said James proudly.

"But at what price?" Regulus asked softly, no trace of malice in his voice. James sat back, considerably deflated.

**"But why? What happened?" Harry asked urgently.**

Sirius suddenly looked pained. "Please," he whispered. "Not this again."

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.**

**"I never expected this," he said, in a low, worried voice. "I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh - but someone's gotta - yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not knowin'."**

"That would be disastrous," agreed Regulus.

**He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.**

**"Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh - mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it..."**

Sirius took a deep breath to prepare himself for what was to come. The mood in the room was extremely somber as Alice read on.

**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds, and then said, "It begins, I suppose, with - with a person called - but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows -"**

**"Who? "**

**"Well - I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does." **

"Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself," said Minerva. "Albus always says so."

**"Why not?"**

**"Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. **

"Point proven." The professor nodded.

**Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went... bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was..."**

**Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.**

"Oh come ON, it's pathetic!" snarled Sirius, angry at the delay. He wanted to get this over with quickly.

**"Could you write it down?" Harry suggested.**

**"Nah -can't spell it. All right - Voldemort." **

"Finally."

**Hagrid shuddered. "Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this - this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too - some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches... terrible things happened. He was takin' over. **

The room shuddered at this description of the time that they were living in currently.

**'Course, some stood up to him - an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway.**

"I should think not!" said Minerva indignantly. "We would never allow it."

**"Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. **

James and Lily smiled at Hagrid's praise.

**Head boy an' girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before... probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side.**

"We certainly do not," said James angrily. "We'd never join those scum." Regulus unconsciously crossed his arms.

**"Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em... maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Halloween ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' - an' -"**

Alice's voice was beginning to tremble, and Sirius had his head in his hands.

**Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.**

**"Sorry," he said. "But it's that sad - knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find - anyway..."**

"Thank you, Hagrid," whispered Lily.

**"You-Know-Who killed 'em. **

Frank narrowed his eyes but declined to comment on Hagrid's blunt delivery of that information.

**An' then - an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing - he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. **

Regulus was shocked, but tried to hide it. Potter was just a baby, how could he have possibly survived?

**Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh - took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even - but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. **

There was hardly a dry eye in the room after this.

**No one ever lived after**

**he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age - the McKinnons, **

"No, not Marlene!" cried Lily, burying her head in James' chest.

**the Bones, **

"Edgar?" whispered Frank, his eyes wide.

**the Prewetts **

Molly gave a great, shuddering gasp and collapsed sobbing quietly onto Arthur's shoulder.

**- an' you was only a baby, an' you lived."**

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before - and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life: a high, cold, cruel laugh. **

Lily sobbed. No child should have to hear that. No person at all should.

**Hagrid was watching him sadly.**

**"Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot..."**

**"Load of old tosh," said Uncle Vernon. **

"It is not!" said Remus angrily.

**Harry jumped; he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. **

"I wish I could do the same," muttered Sirius.

**Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.**

**"Now, you listen here, boy," he snarled, "I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured **

"He BETTER not," said Lily furiously.

**- and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion - **

"How could she have married that horrid man?" asked Alice incredulously. Remus and Sirius were growling with their hands balled up in rage, not believing anyone could say that about James and Lily.

**asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types - just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end -"**

Sirius got up and started pacing at this, he couldn't take much more of it.

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, "I'm warning you, Dursley -I'm warning you - one more word..."**

"What would he do with an umbrella?" asked Regulus curiously. Minerva's eyes narrowed slightly, but as she could not prove her suspicions, she said nothing.

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.**

"And stay that way," snarled Sirius, sitting back down.

**"That's better," said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor. **

**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them. "But what happened to Vol-, sorry - I mean, You-Know-Who?"**

"No, that's right Harry, don't be afraid of the name," James said encouragingly.

**"Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see... he was gettin' more an' more powerful - why'd he go?**

**"Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. **

Remus inhaled sharply. That wasn't good, that wasn't good at all. He had to have died, right? His Killing Curse rebounded on him, he couldn't have survived. _But Harry did, _said a nagging voice in his head. Shut up, he told himself. He's dead, the end.

**Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die. Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. **

"Probably Lucius," muttered Arthur angrily.

**Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back.**

_Well there's that at least, _thought Remus.

**"Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on - I dunno what it was, no one does - but somethin' about you stumped him, all right."**

**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? **

"Lock him in a cupboard?" asked Regulus in disbelief.

"Later," said Sirius, a shadow of anger crossing his face.

**If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football?**

**"Hagrid," he said quietly, "I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard."**

"Oh don't question it Harry, you'll be great," assured Frank. Lily smiled at him.

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled.**

**"Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared or angry?"**

Some laughed at that, remembering the boa constrictor.

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it... every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry... chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach... dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back... and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realizing he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him?**

"See? Powerful magic," said Frank, nodding.

**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.**

**"See?" said Hagrid. "Harry Potter, not a wizard - you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts."**

"If he's anything like Potter, he'll love that," said Regulus disparagingly. James scowled at the younger Black brother.

"I don't think he will," said Alice, oblivious to the slight in the previous comment. "I think he might turn out a lot like Lily."

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.**

**"Haven't I told you he's not going?" he hissed. "He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish - spell books and wands and -"**

"That's not rubbish, it's necessities," said an indignant Regulus. Didn't this Muggle know anything?

**"If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him," growled Hagrid. "Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. **

"Is that true?" Lily wondered.

"Oh yes," assured Minerva. "We detect each magical birth that occurs in the United Kingdom and record their name for future reference."

**He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, **

"And make friends for a change," mumbled Sirius.

**an' he'll be under the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had, Albus Dumbled-"**

**"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL To TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!" yelled Uncle Vernon.**

James, Sirius, and Remus gasped and looked stricken. "What?" asked Regulus. "I mean, I understand that it's shocking that he'd call him that, but you look like it's so much worse."

Sirius just shook his head. "You'll see. Dursley is in trouble now."

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head, "NEVER," he thundered, "- INSULT- ALBUS- DUMBLEDORE- IN- FRONT- OF- ME!"**

"Oh dear," said Regulus.

**He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley - there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, **

Minerva narrowed her eyes and swore to speak to Hagrid about this forthwith.

**a sharp squeal, and the next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers.**

The Marauders, Alice, and Molly roared with laughter as everyone else looked amused.

"The fat brat finally got what he deserved!" gasped Alice through tears of mirth.

**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.**

"Serves you right!" shouted Sirius, as if they could hear him.

**Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.**

**"Shouldn'ta lost me temper," he said ruefully, "but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do."**

Molly was still laughing, a nice change from when she had heard about her brothers. "True," she said, "very true."

**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows.**

**"Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts," he said. "I'm - er - not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff - one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job."**

"Well he should have stopped there," said Minerva, but without any real conviction. Secretly, she thought Hagrid was right to defend Albus like that.

**"Why aren't you supposed to do magic?" asked Harry.**

**"Oh, well - I was at Hogwarts meself but I - er - got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore." **

"He really is," said James proudly.

"I wonder why he was expelled," Regulus mused.

**"Why were you expelled?"**

The younger Black looked hopeful that his question would be answered. He hated not knowing something.

**"It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow," said Hagrid loudly. "Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that."**

"Oh," he said, crestfallen.

James frowned slightly. "We tried asking him too, but got the same answer. It must have been bad."

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.**

**"You can kip under that," he said. "Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets."**

Regulus was again amazed at the seemingly bottomless pockets of the coat as Alice handed the book to Frank.

A/N: I would really like your opinions on this chapter, and whether or not Regulus was a good idea. Also whether or not you like his character as I have portrayed it (a little superior, but not the awful supremacist you'd expect, seeing as he's a Death Eater.) I like him and want to keep him, I just want to know what you think. Review, please!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I know. I know. I'm sorry. D: This is so completely, undeniably late. It started out with some flu mixed with some pneumonia, and I didn't really feel like doing anything then. But after I got better, apparently my Muses went on sick leave, because I didn't feel like writing then either. But I forced myself to complete this chapter, and here it is! If it gets repetitive, sorry. :/ I wrote this over the course of a month, and kept forgetting what I had previously written. I'll try to update faster. :( Enjoy!

**CHAPTER FIVE**

"Ooo I bet this is the chapter that Harry goes to Diagon Alley!" squealed Lily. Everyone looked excited as Frank began.

**Harry woke early the next morning. Although he could tell it was daylight, he kept his eyes shut tight.**

"Why would he do that?" wondered Regulus curiously, who was an early riser.

**"It was a dream, he told himself firmly. "I dreamed a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going to a school for wizards. When I open my eyes I'll be at home in my cupboard."**

"That's so sad!" said Alice. "They have him subconsciously trained to never expect or accept anything good to happen to him."

**There was suddenly a loud tapping noise.**

**And there's Aunt Petunia knocking on the door, Harry thought, his heart sinking. **

"I'm sure if it were really Petunia, it'd be a lot worse than just tapping," Lily said bitterly. "There'd be pounding and shrieking, most likely."

**But he still didn't open his eyes. It had been such a good dream. Tap. Tap. Tap. "All right," Harry mumbled, "I'm getting up."**

"Good, now he'll realize the truth," said Sirius approvingly.

**He sat up and Hagrid's heavy coat fell off him. The hut was full of sunlight, the storm was over, Hagrid himself was asleep on the collapsed sofa, and there was an owl rapping its claw on the window, a newspaper held in its beak.**

**Harry scrambled to his feet, so happy he felt as though a large balloon was swelling inside him. **

Lily beamed at the thought of her son being happy for once.

**He went straight to the window and jerked it open. The owl swooped in and dropped the newspaper on top of Hagrid, who didn't wake up. The owl then fluttered onto the floor and began to attack Hagrid's coat.**

**"Don't do that."**

"It only wants payment, Harry," said Frank.

"Remember, Muggle world, Muggle customs," said Lily warningly. "Don't berate him in the future for not knowing things that seem obvious to you." Frank held his hands up in surrender and went back to the book.

**Harry tried to wave the owl out of the way, but it snapped its beak fiercely at him and carried on savaging the coat.**

"Ooo be careful with those delivery birds," Sirius said knowingly. Remus stifled a laugh as he remembered an incident where Sirius had tried to avoid paying for his paper. He wouldn't touch an owl for weeks after that.

**"Hagrid!" said Harry loudly. "There's an owl-" **

**"Pay him," Hagrid grunted into the sofa. **

**"What?"**

**"He wants payin' fer deliverin' the paper. Look in the pockets." Hagrid's coat seemed to be made of nothing but pockets - bunches of keys, slug pellets, balls of string, peppermint humbugs, teabags... **

Regulus had given up being amazed by the coat at this point.

**finally, Harry pulled out a handful of strange-looking coins.**

**"Give him five Knuts," said Hagrid sleepily. **

**"Knuts?" **

Frank bit his lip as he caught a warning glance from Lily.

**"The little bronze ones."**

**Harry counted out five little bronze coins, and the owl held out his leg so Harry could put the money into a small leather pouch tied to it. Then he flew off through the open window.**

**Hagrid yawned loudly, sat up, and stretched.**

Lily sniffed. "Well why didn't he do it himself if he was going to get up anyways?"

**"Best be Off, Harry, lots ter do today, gotta get up ter London an' buy all yer stuff fer school."**

Everyone looked excited at this.

**Harry was turning over the wizard coins and looking at them. He had just thought of something that made him feel as though the happy balloon inside him had got a puncture.**

Alice looked concerned. "What's wrong?"

**"Um - Hagrid?" **

**"Mm?" said Hagrid, who was pulling on his huge boots.**

**"I haven't got any money - and you heard Uncle Vernon last night ... he won't pay for me to go and learn magic."**

James snorted. "Oh, if that's all."

Lily looked at him incredulously. "What do you mean, 'If that's all'? That's a serious concern!"

"Lily, relax," said Sirius soothingly. "The Potters are almost as rich as I am. Harry must have SOME money." She looked a little mollified at that.

**"Don't worry about that," said Hagrid, standing up and scratching his head. "D'yeh think yer parents didn't leave yeh anything?"**

"See?" asked Sirius triumphantly.

**"But if their house was destroyed -"**

**"They didn' keep their gold in the house, boy! Nah, first stop fer us is Gringotts. Wizards' bank. Have a sausage, they're not bad cold - an' I wouldn' say no teh a bit o' yer birthday cake, neither."**

"I'm sure you're the only one that wouldn't say no to your cooking," muttered Remus, making a face.

**"Wizards have banks?" **

**"Just the one. Gringotts. Run by goblins." **

**Harry dropped the bit of sausage he was holding. "Goblins?"**

Lily giggled. "The discovery of the existence of magical creatures is pretty surprising. I was always just used to thinking they only belonged in fairy tales."

**"Yeah - so yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it, I'll tell yeh that. Never mess with goblins, Harry. Gringotts is the safest place in the world fer anything yeh want ter keep safe - 'cept maybe Hogwarts. As a matter o' fact, I gotta visit Gringotts anyway. Fer Dumbledore. Hogwarts business." **

Minerva sighed, while Remus smirked.

"What, what's so odd about that?" asked Frank, noticing this reaction.

Alice giggled, having caught on. "Hagrid probably shouldn't have let that slip. If Harry is anything like Lily, he'll be too curious for his own good." Lily scowled good-naturedly at her best friend.

**Hagrid drew himself up proudly. "He usually gets me ter do important stuff fer him. Fetchin' you gettin' things from Gringotts - knows he can trust me, see.**

**"Got everythin'? Come on, then."**

**Harry followed Hagrid out onto the rock. The sky was quite clear now and the sea gleamed in the sunlight. The boat Uncle Vernon had hired was still there, with a lot of water in the bottom after the storm.**

"Oh I hope it's safe," Molly fretted.

"I'm sure it's fine," said Arthur to reassure his wife.

**"How did you get here?" Harry asked, looking around for another boat. **

**"Flew," said Hagrid.**

James choked a bit. "He—he-he flew?" he sputtered.

Remus smiled at his best friend's reaction. "Yes, yes, it's a very amusing picture. Now if you can breathe again, I'd like it if we could continue." James glared at him as Frank read on.

**"Flew?"**

**"Yeah - but we'll go back in this. Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh."**

Minerva narrowed her eyes. "And he'd do well to remember that."

**They settled down in the boat, Harry still staring at Hagrid, trying to imagine him flying.**

**"Seems a shame ter row, though," said Hagrid, giving Harry another of his sideways looks. **

"Oh for heaven's-" the professor began, but Frank kept going.

**"If I was ter - er - speed things up a bit, would yeh mind not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"**

**"Of course not," said Harry, eager to see more magic. **

Minerva muttered something that sounded like "enabler" and rolled her eyes.

**Hagrid pulled out the pink umbrella again, tapped it twice on the side of the boat, and they sped off toward land.**

"Hmph. Not very impressive magic. Bit of a waste of a demonstration if you ask me," Sirius sniffed.

**"Why would you be mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked.**

**"Spells - enchantments," said Hagrid, unfolding his newspaper as he spoke. "They say there's dragons guardin' the high security vaults. **

"Is that true?" Lily asked, turning to the all-knowing Minerva.

"Alas, Miss Evans, only the goblins and owners of the vaults know for sure. No one else has been down that far," she said regretfully. She didn't like it when she couldn't answer a question confidently.

**And then yeh gotta find yer way - Gringotts is hundreds of miles under London, see. Deep under the Underground. Yeh'd die of hunger tryin' ter get out, even if yeh did manage ter get yer hands on summat."**

"Speaking of hunger," piped up Remus, "I haven't felt hungry yet. What's the deal? It must have been a couple of hours since we've been here."

Lily was about to voice her opinion on the matter, when a fluttering motion from overhead distracted her. "Look!" she cried, pointing up at a piece of paper floating down from the out of sight ceiling.

Regulus jumped up and caught it in his fist, then smoothed it out to read it.

'Everyone-

To my understanding, with the way I worked the spell to create the InBetween, you won't get hungry or tired. You can continue reading uninterrupted in this way.

- H. G.

P.S. If you ever want more clarification for something (a note of explanation, a picture for a visual, etc.) just voice your request out loud. As long as it won't give anything away, I'll be happy to provide!'

Remus frowned slightly as Regulus finished reading the note. "Well….I mean to say…..No chocolate?" He looked pleadingly at his best friends, who just grinned back at him. Moony and his obsession…

Remus jumped as a pop sounded next to where he was sitting. On the floor next to the couch he was sharing with Sirius, a pyramid of chocolate bars had appeared. Giving a rather un-wolfish squeal, he dove upon the top layer and grabbed a few, hastily unwrapping them.

"Crisis adverted, I'm good," he said, grinning happily from behind a rather large bar. Shaking his head in amusement, Frank turned back to the book.

**Harry sat and thought about this while Hagrid read his newspaper, the Daily Prophet. Harry had learned from Uncle Vernon that people liked to be left alone while they did this, **

"Of course, he's Vernon," said Lily, rolling her eyes. "It'd be strange if he weren't bothered."

**but it was very difficult, he'd never had so many questions in his life.**

"It's ok, Hagrid won't mind," said Alice kindly.

**"Ministry o' Magic messin' things up as usual," Hagrid muttered, turning the page.**

**"There's a Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked, before he could stop himself.**

Frank opened his mouth to comment, but closed it again at a look from Lily.

**"'Course," said Hagrid. "They wanted Dumbledore fer Minister, o'course, but he'd never leave Hogwarts, so old Cornelius Fudge got the job. **

"Ah no, not him!" Frank groaned. "He's totally useless, Mum complains about him all the time!"

**Bungler if ever there was one. So he pelts Dumbledore with owls every morning, askin' fer advice."**

Sirius snorted. "Sounds like a right idiot." Frank nodded.

**"But what does a Ministry of Magic do?"**

**"Well, their main job is to keep it from the Muggles that there's still witches an' wizards up an' down the country."**

**"Why?"**

"Why? I thought that would be obvious!" said Frank in spite of himself. "Oh, sorry…" he said sheepishly, catching sight of Lily's frown at him.

**"Why? Blimey, Harry, everyone'd be wantin' magic solutions to their problems. **

"I doubt Petunia would want them, no matter how desperate," Lily muttered.

**Nah, we're best left alone."**

**At this moment the boat bumped gently into the harbor wall. Hagrid folded up his newspaper, and they clambered up the stone steps onto the street.**

**Passersby stared a lot at Hagrid as they walked through the little town to the station. **

Remus snorted. "Who doesn't stare at him? He's kind of hard to miss."

**Harry couldn't blame them. Not only was Hagrid twice as tall as anyone else, he kept pointing at perfectly ordinary things like parking meters and saying loudly, "See that, Harry? Things these Muggles dream up, eh?"**

Minerva shook her head. "Tact, absolutely no tact!"

**"Hagrid," said Harry, panting a bit as he ran to keep up, "did you say there are dragons at Gringotts?"**

Lily again looked thoughtful about this.

**"Well, so they say," said Hagrid. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon." **

"He'd LIKE one?" asked Molly incredulously. "Well he had just better not get one!" Minerva looked like she quite agreed with this statement.

**"You'd like one?" **

**"Wanted one ever since I was a kid - here we go."**

"Odd taste in childhood pets," Regulus mused. James glared at him.

"Got a problem with Hagrid?" he asked menacingly.

"Not at all," Regulus replied, looking mildly interested. "I merely said he was a bit…strange." James huffed and turned away.

**They had reached the station. There was a train to London in five minutes' time. Hagrid, who didn't understand "Muggle money," as he called it, gave the bills to Harry so he could buy their tickets.**

"You'd think more wizards would learn to handle it," said Lily exasperatedly, rolling her eyes. Frank looked at her strangely.

**People stared more than ever on the train. Hagrid took up two seats and sat knitting what looked like a canary-yellow circus tent.**

Alice giggled. "Well I sure hope he's not going to _wear_ it!" she laughed.

**"Still got yer letter, Harry?" he asked as he counted stitches. Harry took the parchment envelope out of his pocket.**

**"Good," said Hagrid. "There's a list there of everything yeh need."**

**Harry unfolded a second piece of paper he hadn't noticed the night before, **

"How could he not notice it?" asked Frank. "He should be interested in this new world!"

Lily frowned. She suspected that finding out about his painful past had distracted her son, but didn't say anything. Alice, however, noticed her friend's face and elbowed her boyfriend none-too-gently in the ribs.

**and read:**

**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY UNIFORM **

**First-year students will require: **

**1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)**

**2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear **

**3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar) **

**4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings) **

**Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags **

**COURSE BOOKS **

**All students should have a copy of each of the following: **

**The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk **

**A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot **

**Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling **

**A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emetic Switch **

**One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore **

**Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger **

**Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander **

**The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble **

**OTHER EQUIPMENT**

**wand **

**cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) **

**set glass or crystal phials **

**telescope **

**set brass scales**

**Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad.**

"Ooooo get a toad, those are the best!" said Frank happily.

James snorted. "They're alright, but owls are dead useful. Carry your mail and everything. Much better than an ugly frog."

Frank was about to open his mouth to reply, when Alice nudged him again. "What are you, four?" she asked. "Do you want to finish this book or not?" Her boyfriend sat back and crossed his arms in defeat.

**PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS**

James and Sirius pouted. "But Professor, couldn't you-?"

"No," said Minerva severely, before they could finish. "There's no bending the rules with that one, I'm sorry boys."

**"Can we buy all this in London?" Harry wondered aloud. **

**"If yeh know where to go," said Hagrid.**

**Harry had never been to London before. **

Lily scowled. She really wished this book would stop mentioning how badly her son had it living with her sister.

**Although Hagrid seemed to know where he was going, he was obviously not used to getting there in an ordinary way. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the trains too slow.**

"I really wish he'd hold his tongue," said Minerva irritably.

**"I don't know how the Muggles manage without magic," he said as they climbed a broken-down escalator that led up to a bustling road lined with shops.**

**Hagrid was so huge that he parted the crowd easily; all Harry had to do was keep close behind him. **

Sirius grinned. "Convenient."

**They passed book shops and music stores, hamburger restaurants and cinemas, but nowhere that looked as if it could sell you a magic wand. This was just an ordinary street full of ordinary people. Could there really be piles of wizard gold buried miles beneath them? Were there really shops that sold spell books and broomsticks? **

Lily smiled, remembering her similar thoughts on her first trip to Diagon Alley.

**Might this not all be some huge joke that the Dursleys had cooked up?**

Sirius laughed derisively. "As if those beasts had the imagination to do anything like this. They don't _approve _of it," he finished with a sneer.

**If Harry hadn't known that the Dursleys had no sense of humor, he might have thought so; **

"See, Harry agrees," he said triumphantly. Remus just rolled his eyes.

**yet somehow, even though everything Hagrid had told him so far was unbelievable, Harry couldn't help trusting him.**

"Good idea, he's the most trustworthy person I know," James said fondly.

"Until he gets drunk," Remus reminded him.

**"This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."**

**It was a tiny, grubby-looking pub. If Hagrid hadn't pointed it out, Harry wouldn't have noticed it was there. The people hurrying by didn't glance at it. Their eyes slid from the big book shop on one side to the record shop on the other as if they couldn't see the Leaky Cauldron at all. In fact, Harry had the most peculiar feeling that only he and**

**Hagrid could see it. **

"That's because you're the only ones there who can," said Frank matter-of-factly.

**Before he could mention this, Hagrid had steered him inside.**

**For a famous place, it was very dark and shabby. A few old women were sitting in a corner, drinking tiny glasses of sherry. One of them was smoking a long pipe. A little man in a top hat **

"Dedalus!" said James happily.

"How do you know?" Lily asked skeptically.

"Trust me, I just do," James replied.

**was talking to the old bartender, who was quite bald and looked like a toothless walnut. **

The room laughed at that. "Your son's descriptions are priceless," Sirius chortled, slapping James on the back.

**The low buzz of chatter stopped when they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid; they waved and smiled at him, and the bartender reached for a glass, saying, "The usual, Hagrid?"**

"If he accepts that drink, so help me-" Lily left the threat unfinished.

**"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business," said Hagrid, **

Lily nodded severely.

**clapping his great hand on Harry's shoulder and making Harry's knees buckle.**

James laughed. That happened to him all the time.

**"Good Lord," said the bartender, peering at Harry, "is this - can this be -?"**

"Oh!" said Arthur, comprehension dawning on his face.

"What?" asked Lily, uneasy.

"He's famous, remember?" said Arthur. "I think they're all going to be in awe." Lily looked slightly uncomfortable and slightly proud at this revelation. James was beaming at the recognition his son was going to get.

**The Leaky Cauldron had suddenly gone completely still and silent.**

**"Bless my soul," whispered the old bartender, "Harry Potter... what an honor."**

**He hurried out from behind the bar, rushed toward Harry and seized his hand, tears in his eyes.**

"Wow," said Frank, impressed. "The last time I saw Tom cry, it was because Alice tripped and spilled Ever-Sprouting Vine seeds all over his parlor."

The girl in question looked irritable at this reminder. "Well it wouldn't have been such a big deal if you hadn't stumbled on the hem of your own robe and gotten tangled in some of them," she snapped. Frank just looked sheepish as the room laughed at their antics.

**"Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."**

Lily smiled sadly at that. He was finally coming back into the world where he belonged.

**Harry didn't know what to say. Everyone was looking at him. The old woman with the pipe was puffing on it without realizing it had gone out. Hagrid was beaming.**

Much like James was upon hearing this.

**Then there was a great scraping of chairs and the next moment, Harry found himself shaking hands with everyone in the Leaky Cauldron.**

**"Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last." **

Alice snorted. "Friend of Mother's, she is. She likes famous people, she really can't get enough of them."

**"So proud, Mr. Potter, I'm just so proud."**

**"Always wanted to shake your hand - I'm all of a flutter."**

**"Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can't tell you, Diggle's the name, Dedalus Diggle."**

James smirked over at his favorite redhead. "See? Told you." She just sighed and rolled her eyes. Just like him to gloat, she thought.

**"I've seen you before!" said Harry, as Dedalus Diggle's top hat fell off in his excitement. "You bowed to me once in a shop."**

**"He remembers!" cried Dedalus Diggle, looking around at everyone. "Did you hear that? He remembers me!" **

"A little excited, eh Dig?" asked Remus amusedly.

**Harry shook hands again and again - Doris Crockford kept coming back for more.**

Alice rolled her eyes at Doris's typical behavior.

**A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eyes was twitching.**

"Sounds like a Slytherin, afraid of everything," Sirius said. Regulus turned and hit him upside the head.

"Oops, looks like my 'lack of courage' doesn't stop me from doing that! I guess you're just not a threat, I should have known," he said, shaking his head as he turned back to the book. Sirius looked like he was going to retaliate, then just smiled slightly and looked down.

Remus wondered at this strange interaction between the two, and resolved to ask one of them about their relationship as soon as possible.

**"Professor Quirrell!" said Hagrid. **

"He's a professor?" asked Molly. "But the poor dear sounds like one good spell would do him in!"

"Maybe he teaches something that doesn't require wands, like Muggle Studies or Arithmancy," Arthur suggested fairly.

**"Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."**

**"P-P-Potter," stammered Professor Quirrell, grasping Harry's hand, "c-can't t-tell you how p- pleased I am to meet you."**

"Ugh," said Sirius distastefully. "He's got a stutter. How annoying."

**"What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?"**

**"D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered Professor Quirrell, as though he'd rather not think about it. **

"Hmm," Arthur frowned. "Not quite what I had in mind. That's probably the worst subject for someone of his description to teach.

**"N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?" He laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself." He looked terrified at the very thought.**

"I don't exactly have confidence in this man's abilities," said Molly doubtfully. "Should he really be teaching the children?" she asked, turning towards Minerva.

The Transfiguration professor sighed. "It may very well be that he was the only man we could find for the job. I daresay that after fifty some-odd years and fifty some-odd Defense professors, it must be getting difficult to find someone to take the post."

**But the others wouldn't let Professor Quirrell keep Harry to himself. It took almost ten minutes to get away from them all. **

James looked amazed at his son's fame. And to think that he was only eleven!

**At last, Hagrid managed to make himself heard over the babble.**

**"Must get on - lots ter buy. Come on, Harry."**

**Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time, **

Alice rolled her eyes again.

**and Hagrid led them through the bar and out into a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds.**

"And the entrance to a secret world," Sirius said mysteriously.

**Hagrid grinned at Harry. "Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh - mind you, he's usually tremblin'." **

"Poor guy," Molly said sadly. "I wonder what happened to him?"

**"Is he always that nervous?" **

**"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind. He was fine while he was**

**studyin' outta books but then he took a year off ter get some firsthand experience... They say he met vampires in the Black Forest, and there was a nasty bit o' trouble with a hag - never been the same since. **

Molly gasped. "That's horrible! No wonder he's so scared!"

**Scared of the students, scared of his own subject now, where's me umbrella?"**

"He can't be very effective," said Minerva, with a frown.

**Vampires? Hags? Harry's head was swimming. **

"You can't just put all that on him at once!" Lily reprimanded.

**Hagrid, meanwhile, was counting bricks in the wall above the trash can.**

**"Three up... two across he muttered. "Right, stand back, Harry." He tapped the wall three times with the point of his umbrella.**

**The brick he had touched quivered - it wriggled - in the middle, a small hole appeared - it grew wider and wider - a second later they were facing an archway large enough even for Hagrid, an archway onto a cobbled street that twisted and turned out of sight.**

Lily sighed sadly. She should be the one to show him the Alley for his first time; and it should have been before his was eleven. James looked down at her and noticed her distant expression. He pulled her closer; she looked like she needed some comfort.

**"Welcome," said Hagrid, "to Diagon Alley."**

**He grinned at Harry's amazement. They stepped through the archway. Harry looked quickly over his shoulder and saw the archway shrink instantly back into solid wall.**

**The sun shone brightly on a stack of cauldrons outside the nearest shop. Cauldrons - All Sizes - Copper, Brass, Pewter, Silver - Self-Stirring - Collapsible, said a sign hanging over them.**

"I've always wanted a gold one," Sirius sighed wistfully.

"I got one," said Regulus smugly. "As a reward for being the 'good son' after you left." Sirius gaped at him in disbelief.

**"Yeah, you'll be needin' one," said Hagrid, "but we gotta get yer money first."**

**Harry wished he had about eight more eyes. He turned his head in every direction as they walked up the street, trying to look at everything at once: the shops, the things outside them, the people doing their shopping. **

"That's how I felt, too!" said Lily happily, remembering her first time in Diagon Alley. Many in the room nodded in agreement. Even the purebloods were overwhelmed by the size and scope of the place.

**A plump woman outside an Apothecary was shaking her head as they passed, saying, "Dragon liver, seventeen Sickles an ounce, they're mad..."**

"Well she should count herself lucky!" said Molly. "In today's war times, it's a Galleon and three Sickles! At least it goes down in more peaceful times."

**A low, soft hooting came from a dark shop with a sign saying Eeylops Owl Emporium - Tawny, Screech, Barn, Brown, and Snowy. Several boys of about Harry's age had their noses pressed against a window with broomsticks in it. "Look," Harry heard one of them say, "the new Nimbus Two Thousand - fastest ever -" **

"Close your mouth, Potter," said Lily without even looking up. James looked indignant, while the rest of the room laughed; he had indeed been drooling a bit at the mention of the new broomstick.

**There were shops selling robes, shops selling telescopes and strange silver instruments Harry had never seen before, **

"Like the ones Dumbledore's got!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Yes, and you've been in his office enough times to know," said Regulus wryly.

**windows stacked with barrels of bat spleens and eels' eyes, tottering piles of spell books, quills, and rolls of parchment, potion**

**bottles, globes of the moon... **

**"Gringotts," said Hagrid.**

**They had reached a snowy white building that towered over the other little shops. Standing beside its burnished bronze doors, wearing a uniform of scarlet and gold, was –**

Lily giggled. "He must've seen the goblin."

**"Yeah, that's a goblin," said Hagrid quietly as they walked up the white stone steps toward him. The goblin was about a head shorter than Harry. He had a swarthy, clever face, a pointed beard and, Harry noticed, very long fingers and feet. He bowed as they walked inside. Now they were facing a second pair of doors, silver this time, with words engraved upon them:**

**Enter, stranger, but take heed **

**Of what awaits the sin of greed, **

**For those who take, but do not earn, **

**Must pay most dearly in their turn. **

**So if you seek beneath our floors **

**A treasure that was never yours, **

**Thief, you have been warned, beware **

**Of finding more than treasure there. **

Sirius shivered. "That poem always gives me the creeps."

**"Like I said, Yeh'd be mad ter try an' rob it," said Hagrid. **

"Yes, yes you would," said Alice fervently. She had never been a fan of the goblins, or Gringotts in general.

**A pair of goblins bowed them through the silver doors and they were in a vast marble hall. About a hundred more goblins were sitting on high stools behind a long counter, scribbling in large ledgers, weighing coins in brass scales, examining precious stones through eyeglasses. There were too many doors to count leading off the hall, and yet more goblins were showing people in and out of these. **

"It's rather grand," said Lily fondly. Alice just shivered. It was a bit too….open for her liking.

**Hagrid and Harry made for the counter.**

**"Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe."**

**"You have his key, Sir?"**

**"Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, and he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, scattering a handful of moldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers. **

Frank snorted. "He won't like that."

**The goblin wrinkled his nose. Harry watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals.**

Remus quirked an eyebrow. Rubies, mentioned so randomly and this early in the story? Maybe we have a little lion in the making… He smiled at the thought.

**"Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key. The goblin looked at it closely. "That seems to be in order."**

**"An' I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, throwing out his chest. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."**

"Oh Hagrid," sighed Minerva.

**The goblin read the letter carefully.**

**"Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have someone take you down to both vaults. Griphook!"**

"Oh no, that monster is still there?" Alice groaned. "Poor Harry!" Everyone else just looked at her oddly.

**Griphook was yet another goblin. **

Alice muttered "monster" under her breath.

**Once Hagrid had crammed all the dog biscuits back inside his pockets, he and Harry followed Griphook toward one of the doors leading off the hall.**

**"What's the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked.**

"Lily's son," said Remus fondly. Lily beamed.

"I knew this would happen," Minerva sighed.

**"Can't tell yeh that," said Hagrid mysteriously. "Very secret. Hogwarts business. Dumbledore's trusted me. More'n my job's worth ter tell yeh that."**

"Then you'd better not," said Minerva severely.

**Griphook held the door open for them. Harry, who had expected more marble, was surprised. They were in a narrow stone passageway lit with flaming torches. It sloped steeply downward and there were little railway tracks on the floor. **

Alice shuddered.

**Griphook whistled and a small cart came hurtling up the tracks toward them. They climbed in - Hagrid with some difficulty - and were off.**

She closed her eyes. The carts were the worst part!

**At first they just hurtled through a maze of twisting passages. Harry tried to remember, left, right, right, left, middle fork, right, left, but it was impossible. The rattling cart seemed to know its own way, because Griphook wasn't steering.**

"Demonic," Alice was heard to mutter.

"Magic," Frank whispered back, amused in spite of himself.

**Harry's eyes stung as the cold air rushed past them, but he kept them wide open. Once, he thought he saw a burst of fire at the end of a passage and twisted around to see if it was a dragon, **

Lily looked extremely interested in this.

**but too late - - they plunged even deeper, passing an underground lake where huge stalactites and stalagmites grew from the ceiling and floor.**

"**I never know," Harry called to Hagrid over the noise of the cart, "what's the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?"**

**"Stalagmite's got an 'm' in it," said Hagrid. "An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm gonna be sick."**

Everyone but Alice, who looked like she sympathized with Alice, laughed.

**He did look very green, and when the cart stopped at last beside a small door in the passage wall, Hagrid got out and had to lean against the wall to stop his knees from trembling.**

"Finally, someone feels my pain!" Alice wailed.

**Griphook unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out, and as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.**

Arthur looked amazed. "He's very well-taken care of!" James looked proud at this.

**"All yours," smiled Hagrid.**

**All Harry's - it was incredible. The Dursleys couldn't have known about this or they'd have had it from him faster than blinking. **

"They'd better not," James growled.

**How often had they complained how much Harry cost them to keep? **

"Nothing, because they gave him nothing," Lily snarled.

**And all the time there had been a small fortune belonging to him, buried deep under London.**

**Hagrid helped Harry pile some of it into a bag. "The gold ones are Galleons," he explained. "Seventeen silver Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle, it's easy enough. **

"Sure, if you're a pureblood," Lily snorted. "Fives and tens are so much easier to keep track of."

**Right, that should be enough fer a couple o' terms, we'll keep the rest safe for yeh." He turned to Griphook. "Vault seven hundred and thirteen now, please, and can we go more slowly?"**

**"One speed only," said Griphook.**

Alice sighed.

**They were going even deeper now and gathering speed. The air became colder and colder as they hurtled round tight corners. They went rattling over an underground ravine, and Harry leaned over the side to try to see what was down at the dark bottom, **

"Lily, your son is stupid," Alice said with her eyes shut tight.

**but Hagrid groaned and pulled him back by the scruff of his neck.**

"Thank goodness for Hagrid," Lily said.

**Vault seven hundred and thirteen had no keyhole.**

"High-security, then," said Regulus interestedly.

**"Stand back," said Griphook importantly. He stroked the door gently with one of his long fingers and it simply melted away.**

**"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook.**

**"How often do you check to see if anyone's inside?" Harry asked. "About once every ten years," said Griphook with a rather nasty grin.**

"SEE? He's evil, he enjoys that!" exclaimed Alice.

**Something really extraordinary had to be inside this top security vault, Harry was sure, and he leaned forward eagerly, **

So did the rest of the room.

**expecting to see fabulous jewels at the very least - but at first he thought it was empty. Then he noticed a grubby little package wrapped up in brown paper lying on the floor. **

"Oh," said Sirius, disappointed. "How…unexpected."

**Hagrid picked it up and tucked it deep inside his coat. Harry longed to know what it was, but knew better than to ask.**

"At least he has restraint," said an amused Remus, throwing a glance towards a pouting Lily. She stuck her tongue out at him.

**"Come on, back in this infernal cart, and don't talk to me on the way back, it's best if I keep me mouth shut," said Hagrid.**

**One wild cart ride later they stood blinking in the sunlight outside Gringotts. Harry didn't know where to run first now that he had a bag full of money. He didn't have to know how many Galleons there were to a pound to know that he was holding more money than he'd had in his whole life - more money than even Dudley had ever had.**

"Take that, Petunia!" Lily said triumphantly.

**"Might as well get yer uniform," said Hagrid, nodding toward Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. "Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringotts carts." **

"At least he isn't drinking in front of Harry," Molly sighed resignedly.

**He did still look a bit sick, so Harry entered Madam Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous.**

"I wish Hagrid hadn't have left him," said Lily worriedly.

**Madam Malkin was a squat, smiling witch dressed all in mauve.**

**"Hogwarts, dear?" she said, when Harry started to speak. "Got the lot here - another young man being fitted up just now, in fact."**

"Oh, maybe he can make a friend already!" said Lily happily. Sirius sighed and mouthed 'Women' to James, who tried to hold in his snigger. Truth be told, he hoped Harry would make a friend as well. He needed mates as good as the ones his father had.

**In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face **

Remus narrowed his eyes. "That sounds familiar…"

Sirius caught on and gave a look of disgust. "Lucy's spawn, I'd bet anything."

Regulus nodded in agreement, as Lily sighed. Lucius Malfoy was not a pleasant person, and she hoped Harry didn't have to deal with any of his family too much.

**was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him, slipped a long robe over his head, and began to pin it to the right length.**

**"Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts, too?" **

**"Yes," said Harry.**

"Don't talk to him, Harry, he's not worth it," said Sirius with a look of disdain.

"Don't pass judgement, he might not be like his father," Lily admonished, but without any real conviction.

**"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. **

"Why?" asked Remus. "That's pointless. 'The wand chooses the wizard', as Olivander always says." Lily thought that was highly improbable, but agreed that the child should be there to pick out his own wand.

**He had a bored, drawling voice. **

"Yup, Lucy's," said Sirius in disgust.

"No one disagreed," Regulus pointed out.

**"Then I'm going to drag them off to took at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."**

"What a disgusting child!" Molly exclaimed.

"No respect at all," agreed Arthur.

**Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley.**

"Point proven," said Molly with a nod.

**"Have you got your own broom?" the boy went on.**

**"No," said Harry.**

**"Play Quidditch at all?"**

**"No," Harry said again, wondering what on earth Quidditch could be.**

James looked extremely disappointed, but kept his mouth closed at a look from his new girlfriend.

**"I do - Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. **

"A bit cocky," Sirius snorted, and even Regulus raised an eyebrow.

**Know what house you'll be in yet?"**

**"No," said Harry, feeling more stupid by the minute.**

"Don't, Harry," said Lily kindly. "It's to be expected!"

**"Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been **

"Of course," Sirius sneered.

**- imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" **

"I hate him," Alice decided firmly. She had a fair few friends in Hufflepuff, and in her opinion there were no better people anywhere.

**"Mmm," said Harry, wishing he could say something a bit more interesting.**

**"I say, look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding toward the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice creams to show he couldn't come in.**

"Oh no," said Frank, fearing what the boy would say.

**"That's Hagrid," said Harry, pleased to know something the boy didn't. "He works at Hogwarts."**

**"Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"**

"Excuse me?" said James dangerously, narrowing his eyes.

**"He's the gamekeeper," said Harry. He was liking the boy less and less every second.**

"As are we," said Lily.

**"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage **

"What?" Remus yelled.

**- lives in a hut on the school grounds and every now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."**

"While he may be a bit irresponsible, Hagrid is a reliable and loyal member of the Hogwarts staff!" said Minerva heatedly.

**"I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly.**

"That's a boy, stick up for your friends!" said James proudly.

**"Do you?" said the boy, with a slight sneer. **

"Don't sneer at him!" said Sirius with, ironically, a sneer.

**"Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"**

Molly gasped and looked at James and Lily. She was surprised to see that, instead of looking sad, they looked furious at the boy's gall.

**"They're dead," said Harry shortly. He didn't feel much like going into the matter with this boy.**

"He doesn't deserve an explanation," said Remus with surprising venom in his voice.

**"Oh, sorry," said the other, not sounding sorry at all. **

"How dare he?" Alice shrieked. Lily growled and James looked ready to jump at the book.

**"But they were our kind, weren't they?"**

Sirius, too, looked like he'd love to hit the boy across the face.

**"They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."**

**"I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. **

"And what's wrong with that?" asked James, tightening his arm around Lily. She looked up at him thankfully.

**Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. **

"And as you can see, some actual wizards have never heard of it either," said Remus coldly.

**I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families. **

"And soon, there would be no students left at Hogwarts," said Regulus. Sirius looked at him oddly. "What?" he said. "It's true. I'm not going to deny it."

**What's your surname, anyway?"**

**But before Harry could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Harry, not sorry for an excuse to stop talking to the boy, hopped down from the footstool.**

"Thank goodness," Molly sighed.

**"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," said the drawling boy.**

"I hope not," said Lily fervently.

**Harry was rather quiet as he ate the ice cream Hagrid had bought him (chocolate and raspberry with chopped nuts).**

James smiled. Lily looked up and noticed. "What?" she asked.

"That's my favorite," he replied happily. Lily turned back to the book, beaming at the similarity between her son and his father.

**"What's up?" said Hagrid.**

**"Nothing," Harry lied. They stopped to buy parchment and quills. Harry cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed color as you wrote. **

"I love that kind!" said Lily. "It makes tests more fun." Sirius mimed gagging.

**When they had left the shop, he said, "Hagrid, what's Quidditch?"**

James got a pained look on his face. His own son, not knowing what Quidditch was!

**"Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin' how little yeh know - not knowin' about Quidditch!"**

**"Don't make me feel worse," said Harry. **

"Yes, don't," Lily scolded.

**He told Hagrid about the pale boy in Madam Malkin's.**

**"-and he said people from Muggle families shouldn't even be allowed in."**

**"Yer not from a Muggle family. If he'd known who yeh were – **

"It probably wouldn't matter, Lucy knew your father. He wouldn't have been impressed," said Sirius bitterly.

**he's grown up knowin' yer name if his parents are wizardin' folk. You saw what everyone in the Leaky Cauldron was like when they saw yeh. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o' the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in 'em in a long line o' Muggles - look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!"**

Lily smiled at Hagrid's praise. "It's true, you know," James whispered to her. She smiled even wider.

**"So what is Quidditch?"**

**"It's our sport. Wizard sport. It's like - like soccer in the Muggle world - everyone follows Quidditch - played up in the air on broomsticks and there's four balls - sorta hard ter explain the rules." **

James groaned. "You're not doing it justice, Hagrid!"

**"And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?"**

"The worst and best school houses, respectively," said Alice. "What?" she asked in response to James' glare. "I know I'm a Gryffindor, but Hufflepuffs are nicer in my opinion." Lily nudged James to get him to drop it.

**"School houses. There's four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but -"**

"They're not!" Alice finished Hagrid's sentence for him.

**"I bet I'm in Hufflepuff" said Harry gloomily.**

"Nah, you'll be a Gryffindor," said Remus confidently.

"How do you know?" asked Regulus.

"I just know," Remus replied with a smile.

**"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," said Hagrid darkly. **

"Hmph," Regulus huffed.

**"There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."**

**"Vol-, sorry - You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?"**

"C'mon, say the name, Harry!" Sirius said exasperatedly.

**"Years an' years ago," said Hagrid.**

"Well, it wasn't THAT long ago," said Minerva uncomfortably, and somewhat defensively.

"You know something about this, Professor?" asked Sirius interestedly.

"Well, if you must know, Mr. Black," she replied grudgingly, "You-Know-Who was a year behind me in school. I knew him as a boy." Her students gaped at this, and she quickly glared at Frank to continue.

**They bought Harry's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather; books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk; books full of peculiar symbols and a few books with nothing in them at all. Even Dudley, who never read anything, **

Lily, Remus, and Minerva looked scandalized at this.

**would have been wild to get his hands on some of these. Hagrid almost had to drag Harry away from Curses and Countercurses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue- Tying and Much, Much More) by Professor Vindictus Viridian.**

Remus snorted. "Ironic name."

Lily, however, looked concerned. "I don't want my son cursing anybody!"

**"I was trying to find out how to curse Dudley."**

"Oh," she said, relaxing. "That's ok then." James stared at her in amazement.

**"I'm not sayin' that's not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special circumstances," said Hagrid. "An' anyway, yeh couldn' work any of them curses yet, yeh'll need a lot more study before yeh get ter that level."**

"Sadly," James sighed wistfully.

**Hagrid wouldn't let Harry buy a solid gold cauldron, either **

Regulus looked smug again at Sirius' disappointed look.

**("It says pewter on yer list"), but they got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its horrible smell, a mixture of bad eggs and rotted cabbages. **

"Ugh, same as ever, I see," said Remus in disgust, wrinkling his sensitive nose.

**Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Hagrid asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients for Harry, Harry himself examined silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop).**

"Well I'm glad the prices have gone down," said Molly with satisfaction.

**Outside the Apothecary, Hagrid checked Harry's list again.**

**"Just yer wand left – **

Lily, James, and even Sirius looked excited at this.

**oh yeah, an' I still haven't got yeh a birthday present."**

"Awww that's sweet of him!" Alice exclaimed.

"I'm glad Harry has someone like Hagrid," said Lily happily.

**Harry felt himself go red. "You don't have to -"**

"So modest!" cried Molly fondly. She was really liking this boy, and hoped she might have the pleasure of meeting him in the future.

"Didn't get that from this git," said Sirius, pointing to James. He received a sharp slap upside the head for his trouble.

**"I know I don't have to. Tell yeh what, I'll get yer animal. Not a toad, toads went outta fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at – **

Frank's face fell. "But they're awesome," he said in a defeated voice.

Alice giggled; this was his comeuppance for the Gringotts ordeal.

**an' I don' like cats, they make me sneeze. I'll get yer an owl. All the kids want owls, they're dead useful, carry yer mail an' everythin'."**

"Yes!" James exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air. "Hagrid agrees with me and my son gets an owl!"

**Twenty minutes later, they left Eeylops Owl Emporium, which had been dark and full of rustling and flickering, jewel-bright eyes. Harry now carried a large cage that held a beautiful snowy owl, fast asleep with her head under her wing. **

"I bet she's gorgeous," said Lily happily, and Alice nodded her agreement.

**He couldn't stop stammering his thanks, sounding just like Professor Quirrell.**

**"Don' mention it," said Hagrid gruffly. "Don' expect you've had a lotta presents from them Dursleys. Just Ollivanders left now - only place fer wands, Ollivanders, and yeh gotta have the best wand."**

"Yes, he does," James said, still happy from the owl.

**A magic wand... this was what Harry had been really looking forward to.**

"Don't we all?" asked Frank, sighing as he remembered his trip to get a wand. Everyone nodded in nostalgic agreement.

**The last shop was narrow and shabby. Peeling gold letters over the door read Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. **

"They must be one of the oldest pure-blood families in existence!" Regulus commented with interest.

"And what's that supposed to mean, Black?" asked James in a harsh voice.

Regulus turned and fixed him with a cool, haughty stare. "Nothing, Potter. I was simply expressing surprise and interest that a family could go that long without dying out."

James glared at him a while longer; then, failing to find anything wrong with the younger Black's statement, sat back in defeat.

**A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in the dusty window.**

**A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as they stepped inside. It was a tiny place, empty except for a single, spindly chair that Hagrid sat on to wait. **

Alice giggled. "Not a really good idea."

**Harry felt strangely as though he had entered a very strict library; he swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred to him and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes piled neatly right up to the ceiling. For some reason, the back of his neck prickled. The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with some secret magic.**

Frank looked surprised. "I've never felt that," he said.

Remus looked at him. "Me neither, but it's said that wizards with extraordinary power can sense things that others cannot." Lily looked surprised at this information, while James looked immensely proud and in awe of his son.

**"Good afternoon," said a soft voice. Harry jumped. Hagrid must have jumped, too, because there was a loud crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair.  
**  
"I knew it!" Alice laughed.

**An old man was standing before them, his wide, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.**

Sirius shivered. "Creepy."

**"Hello," said Harry awkwardly.**

Frank snorted. "'Awkwardly'? Real conversationalist you got there, James." James just glared at him.

**"Ah yes," said the man. "Yes, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon. Harry Potter." It wasn't a question. **

"It never is with Ollie," Sirius said.

"Ollie?" asked Alice.

"Oh yeah, nicknames are kind of my thing, Allie," said Sirius cheerfully.

Alice snorted. "Allie. Real original, Black."

**"You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."**

Lily gasped softly and looked down at said wand in her hands. "How does he remember?" No one had an answer.

**Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry. Harry wished he would blink. Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy.**

"They are indeed," said Sirius wisely.

**"Your father, on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. **

James looked faintly surprised.

**Well, I say your father favored it - it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."**

Remus smiled at Lily, who just rolled her eyes.

**Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were almost nose to nose. Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes.**

Sirius shuddered again.

**"And that's where..."**

**Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on Harry's forehead with a long, white finger.**

"I agree, that is a bit creepy, Sear," said Regulus.

Alice groaned. "Sear? Oh no, not you too!" Regulus just grinned at her, rather mischievously.

**"I'm sorry to say I sold the wand that did it," he said softly. "Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful, and in the wrong hands... well, if I'd known what that wand was going out into the world to do..."**

"You never should have sold it," Regulus muttered, too softly for anyone to hear.

**He shook his head and then, to Harry's relief, spotted Hagrid.**

**"Rubeus! Rubeus Hagrid! How nice to see you again... Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it?"**

**"It was, sir, yes," said Hagrid.**

**"Good wand, that one. But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled?" said Mr. Ollivander, suddenly stern.**

**"Er - yes, they did, yes," said Hagrid, shuffling his feet. "I've still got the pieces, though," he added brightly.**

"Oh Hagrid," said Minerva, exasperated.

**"But you don't use them?" said Mr. Ollivander sharply.**

"Well, only to give little brats pig's tails," said James with a grin, and the whole room burst into laughter.

**"Oh, no, sir," said Hagrid quickly. Harry noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke.**

**"Hmmm," said Mr. Ollivander, giving Hagrid a piercing look. **

"He knows," said Alice. "Hagrid's rather…obvious."

**"Well, now - Mr. Potter. Let me see." He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket. "Which is your wand arm?"**

**"Er - well, I'm right-handed," said Harry.**

**"Hold out your arm. That's it." He measured Harry from shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit and round his head. **

"Round the head, I've never understood that measurement," Lily said interestedly.

**As he measured, he said, "Every Ollivander wand has a core of a powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter. We use unicorn hairs, phoenix tail feathers, and the heartstrings of dragons. No two Ollivander wands are the same, just as no two unicorns, dragons, or phoenixes are quite the same. And of course, you will never get such good results with another wizard's wand."**

**Harry suddenly realized that the tape measure, which was measuring between his nostrils, **

Everyone laughed at that.

**was doing this on its own. **

"Well of course, you can't expect him to stand there and do it himself," Frank scoffed.

**Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves, taking down boxes.**

**"That will do," he said, and the tape measure crumpled into a heap on the floor. "Right then, Mr. Potter. Try this one. Beechwood and dragon heartstring. Nine inches. Nice and flexible. just take it and give it a wave."**

Lily leaned forward, wondering if this was the one.

**Harry took the wand and (feeling foolish) waved it around a bit, but Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.**

She sat back. Apparently it would take a few tries.

**"Maple and phoenix feather. Seven inches. Quite whippy. Try -"**

**Harry tried - but he had hardly raised the wand when it, too, was snatched back by Mr. Ollivander.**

"How does he know so quickly?" Sirius wondered.

**"No, no -here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, springy. Go on, go on, try it out."**

**Harry tried. And tried. He had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for. The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher on the spindly chair, but the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves, the happier he seemed to become.**

"He's twisted like that," Sirius said with a grin. Despite his occasional creepiness, Ollivander was an ok bloke.

**"Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we'll find the perfect match here somewhere - I wonder, now - - yes, why not - unusual combination - holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."**

Remus raised his eyebrows. Odd coincidence…

**Harry took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. **

"That's the one!" Lily squealed.

**He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls. **

James whooped. "My son, the Gryffindor!"

Frank once again looked surprised. He himself had only managed for a few drops of water to come out when he tried his wand, and Ollivander had pronounced it sufficient. Harry must be a great wizard in the making, to have such an immediate and impressive response.

**Hagrid whooped and clapped and Mr. Ollivander cried, "Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well... how curious... how very curious... "**

"**What's curious?" Lily asked.**

**He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering, "Curious... curious.."**

**"Sorry," said Harry, "but what's curious?" **

Everyone laughed at the similarity between Harry and Lily.

**Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare. **(Sirius shuddered again in spite of himself.)

**"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand.**

Lily gaped at this, then remembered her question was about to be answered.

**It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather - just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother why, its brother gave you that scar."**

Molly and Alice gasped, while Lily and James sat in shock. How was that possible? That was a freaky weird coincidence.

**Harry swallowed.**

**"Yes, thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter... After all, He- Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great."**

"He talks about him like he approves of him," said James reproachfully.

**Harry shivered. He wasn't sure he liked Mr. Ollivander too much. **

"I agree," said Lily as Sirius nodded.

**He paid seven gold Galleons for his wand, and Mr. Ollivander bowed them from his shop.**

**The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky as Harry and Hagrid made their way back down Diagon Alley, back through the wall, back through the Leaky Cauldron, now empty. Harry didn't speak at all as they walked down the road; he didn't even notice how much people were gawking at them on the Underground, laden as they were with all their funny-shaped packages, with the snowy owl asleep in its cage on Harry's lap. **

"That WOULD look very odd," Lily admitted.

**Up another escalator, out into Paddington station; Harry only realized where they were when Hagrid tapped him on the shoulder.**

**"Got time fer a bite to eat before yer train leaves," he said.**

**He bought Harry a hamburger and they sat down on plastic seats to eat them. Harry kept looking around. Everything looked so strange, somehow.**

"That's how it was for me, too," said Lily quietly. It was always strange to be back in the Muggle world, when she knew so much more was out there.

**"You all right, Harry? Yer very quiet," said Hagrid.**

**Harry wasn't sure he could explain. **

"You can talk to Hagrid, son," James said encouragingly.

**He'd just had the best birthday of his life - and yet - he chewed his hamburger, trying to find the words.**

**"Everyone thinks I'm special," he said at last. "All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr. Ollivander... but I don't know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I'm famous and I can't even remember what I'm famous for. I don't know what happened when Vol-, sorry - I mean, the night my parents died."**

"The poor dear," said Molly sadly. "He feels under pressure, and he's only barely eleven!"

"You'll do great things, Harry," James said to the book. "I just know it." Remus, Lily, Sirius, and Frank nodded.

**Hagrid leaned across the table. Behind the wild beard and eyebrows he wore a very kind smile.**

"He always does," Minerva said affectionately.

**"Don' you worry, Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine. just be yerself. I know it's hard. Yeh've been singled out, an' that's always hard. **

"Too right," Remus said, nodding.

**But yeh'll have a great time at Hogwarts - I did - still do, 'smatter of fact."**

**Hagrid helped Harry on to the train that would take him back to the Dursleys, then handed him an envelope.**

**"Yer ticket fer Hogwarts, " he said. "First o' September - King's Cross - it's all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, send me a letter with yer owl, she'll know where to find me... **

Lily smiled, glad that Hagrid would take care of her baby.

**See yeh soon, Harry."**

**The train pulled out of the station. Harry wanted to watch Hagrid until he was out of sight; he rose in his seat and pressed his nose against the window, but he blinked and Hagrid had gone.**

"That's the end," said Frank, handing the book to Lily.

A/N: So I've been reading other FanFics of this type; like a lot. And I've noticed some things that I'd like to incorporate here with my story. So reviewers, I look to you to give me your opinions. What do you think of adding people? How about time travelers? Who and when? Please please please REVIEW! (It helps me be motivated :D ) Also, I will try to start responding to questions from reviewers in my Author's Notes. But if I don't respond, please know that I really really appreciate your reviews! (Especially you, Kitty279! With me every chapter, very much appreciated! :DDD )


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: So, new update. Pretty exciting, right? Right. Regarding the time travelers, I decided...well, you'll see. ;) I found a way to bring in the characters that I felt the story was missing, without breaking the style of the story (I'm trying to keep it as past-central as I can).

Oh, and spring is here! Hopefully I'll be able to write outside soon. I'm pretty sure that my muses live outdoors, something about fresh air always helps me with my writing. I hope you enjoy, please review! ~ Romulus

**CHAPTER SIX**

"I hope Harry goes to Hogwarts in this one!" Lily squealed as she opened the book to the next chapter. Everyone else agreed. Maybe they'd even find out why they were important to the story!

**Harry's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun. **

"Well did he expect it to be?" asked Regulus. James glared at him, but grudgingly agreed.

**True, Dudley was now so scared of Harry he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry in his cupboard, force him to do anything, or shout at him**

"Good!" Lily interrupted herself. "If she had mistreated him one more time…" she left the threat unfinished and looked back down at the book.

**- in fact, they didn't speak to him at all.**

"That can get lonely," Sirius muttered. Regulus heard him and cast him a sympathetic glance. Frank saw, and wondered again about the relationship between the two. Was everything really as it had seemed?

**Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Harry in it were empty. Although this was an improvement in many ways, it did become a bit depressing after a while.**

Sirius sighed slightly. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see his brother looking down at him. Reggie was the only one who knew about anything that had gone on at home. He hadn't even told James…

**Harry kept to his room, with his new owl for company. He had decided to call her Hedwig, a name he had found in 'A History of Magic'. **

"How would he know what's in that book?" James asked suspiciously, eyes narrowed.

**His school books were very interesting. **

"NO!"

"Quiet, James!" said Lily, swatting his arm.

"But he enjoys his school books! It's distinctly anti-Marauder!" he whined. "Well, anti-Potter," he amended at a glare from Remus.

"Well then he should consider himself lucky that he got the GOOD genes," she said with a sniff, although she smiled at the thought of her son wanting to learn things about his new world. She had felt the same.

**He lay on his bed reading late into the night, **(James grimaced) **Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum anymore, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mice. **

"Problematic, messy, blasted owls," Frank muttered, still sore that he didn't get his way. Alice stifled a giggle.

**Every night before he went to sleep, Harry ticked off another day on the piece of paper he had pinned to the wall, counting down to September the first.**

Molly thought it was kind of sad that he wanted to leave so badly, but thought it was best not to comment.

**On the last day of August he thought he'd better speak to his aunt and uncle about getting to King's Cross station the next day, **

Sirius snorted. "Yeah, that may be a bit important, no big deal."

**so he went down to the living room where they were watching a quiz show on television. He cleared his throat to let them know he was there, and Dudley screamed and ran from the room.**

Everyone laughed at that. "Serves him right!" said Molly.

**"Er - Uncle Vernon?"**

**Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening.**

**"Er - I need to be at King's Cross tomorrow to - to go to Hogwarts."**

**Uncle Vernon grunted again.**

"Lily! You didn't tell me your sister's husband was part troll!" said Sirius, mock-offended. The room dissolved into laughter again. They could see the resemblance.

**"Would it be all right if you gave me a lift?"**

**Grunt. Harry supposed that meant yes.**

**"Thank you."**

"I don't know where he learned his manners, seeing as these…people don't have any," said Molly distastefully, "but he seems like a lovely boy." She finished, smiling at Lily who beamed back.

**He was about to go back upstairs when Uncle Vernon actually spoke.**

"Awh, he was almost out of there, too," Remus groaned.

**"Funny way to get to a wizards' school, the train. Magic carpets all got punctures, have they?"**

"Carpets? But those are illegal, everyone knows that," said a bemused Frank. Lily just rolled her eyes and continued.

**Harry didn't say anything. **

**"Where is this school, anyway?"**

**"I don't know," said Harry, realizing this for the first time. **

"Scotland," said Remus promptly, at the same time as Lily said "Ireland." He looked at her. "It's obviously Scotland, it's common knowledge," he said patiently. Lily was about to open her mouth to respond when Minerva intervened.

"Actually, Mr. Lupin, it isn't common knowledge. Magical schools keep their location a secret, to prevent others from stealing our secrets. However...Hogwarts is indeed located in Scotland," she added grudgingly.

Remus smirked triumphantly at Lily, who stuck her tongue out back at him before continuing to read.

**He pulled the ticket Hagrid had given him out of his pocket.**

**"I just take the train from platform nine and three-quarters at eleven o'clock," he read.**

**His aunt and uncle stared.**

"Uh-oh," said Arthur.

"What?" his wife asked, turning to him.

"The Muggles see platforms nine and ten, but can't see nine and three-quarters. And Hagrid didn't tell him how to get on." Everyone looked slightly worried at this.

**"Platform what?"**

**"Nine and three-quarters."**

**"Don't talk rubbish," said Uncle Vernon. "There is no platform nine and three-quarters."**

"See?"

**"It's on my ticket."**

**"Barking," said Uncle Vernon, "howling mad, the lot of them. You'll see. You just wait. All right, we'll take you to King's Cross. We're going up to London tomorrow anyway, or I wouldn't bother."**

"Well that explains why he was going to take him at all," said James.

**"Why are you going to London?" Harry asked, trying to keep things friendly.**

"Good, I hope it works," said Alice worriedly.

**"Taking Dudley to the hospital," growled Uncle Vernon. "Got to have that ruddy tail removed before he goes to Smeltings."**

The room collapsed into laughter at this reminder of what Hagrid had done. "He still has that thing?" asked James through tears of laughter.

**Harry woke at five o'clock the next morning and was too excited and nervous to go back to sleep. **

Lily blinked. Even she had only woken up at six.

**He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk into the station in his wizard's robes - he'd change on the train. **

"Good idea," Remus said. Sirius, meanwhile, was trying to hold back laughter at the thought of a mini-James walking through the station in wizard's robes.

**He checked his Hogwarts list yet again to make sure he had everything he needed, saw that Hedwig was shut safely in her cage, and then paced the room, waiting for the Dursleys to get up. **

"C'mon, hurry up!" whined an impatient Sirius. "I want to hear about his Hogwarts experience already!"

"Be patient," Remus reprimanded, even though he was also looking forward to hearing about it.

**Two hours later, Harry's huge, heavy trunk had been loaded into the Dursleys' car, Aunt Petunia had talked Dudley into sitting next to**

**Harry, **

Even though he was anxious to get ahead in the book, Sirius laughed at that.

**and they had set off.**

**They reached King's Cross at half past ten. Uncle Vernon dumped Harry's trunk onto a cart and wheeled it into the station for him. **

"That's…too kind for him," said Frank skeptically.

**Harry thought this was strangely kind until Uncle Vernon stopped dead, facing the platforms with a nasty grin on his face.**

"Oh no," Arthur groaned.

**"Well, there you are, boy. Platform nine - platform ten. Your platform should be somewhere in the middle, but they don't seem to have built it yet, do they?"**

Alice thought she saw a glint of fury sparkling in Remus' gold-flecked eyes, but when she looked again, she saw that they had turned back to their usual chocolate brown. The light in this place did strange things…

**He was quite right, of course. There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all.**

"But there is something!" Sirius said desperately. "He HAS to find it!"

**"Have a good term," said Uncle Vernon with an even nastier smile. He left without another word. **

Minerva frowned. "Petunia should know, perhaps he's going to fetch her." It was an empty hope, designed to cheer the others up momentarily; the professor herself didn't believe a word of it.

**Harry turned and saw the Dursleys drive away. All three of them were laughing. **

"Petunia knows very well how to get on the platform, she's done it a dozen times," said Lily in a dangerously quiet voice. "How she could just…" she shook her head and turned back to the book, emerald eyes sparkling.

**Harry's mouth went rather dry. What on earth was he going to do? He was starting to attract a lot of funny looks, because of Hedwig. **

Frank thought that a toad wouldn't have called so much attention to itself, but figured that it wasn't the best time to say so.

**He'd have to ask someone.**

**He stopped a passing guard, but didn't dare mention platform nine and three-quarters. **

Remus nodded in agreement. It was a sensible course of action, even if it wouldn't help. Unless the guard was one of the Squibs that Hogwarts had posted at King's Cross on September 1st.

**The guard had never heard of Hogwarts and when Harry couldn't even tell him what part of the country it was in, he started to get annoyed, as though Harry was being stupid on purpose. **

The werewolf sighed. Of course Harry would get the ordinary Muggle.

**Getting desperate, Harry asked for the train that left at eleven o'clock, but the guard said there wasn't one. **

"Thank heavens, he could have gotten on the wrong one," said a worried Molly.

**In the end the guard strode away, muttering about time wasters. Harry was now trying hard not to panic. According to the large clock over the arrivals board, he had ten minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it; he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift, a pocket full of wizard money, and a large owl.**

"That does seem kind of bleak, doesn't it?" said Regulus. Sirius gave him a warning glance and nodded discreetly towards James, who was looking angrily over at the younger Black. He nodded to show he understood and fell silent.

**Hagrid must have forgotten to tell him something you had to do, like tapping the third brick on the left to get into Diagon Alley. He wondered if he should get out his wand and start tapping the ticket inspector's stand between platforms nine and ten.**

Remus shook his head. Harry had good instincts, but the longer he panicked, the more dull they became.

**At that moment a group of people passed just behind him and he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

**"- packed with Muggles, of course -"**

"Oh thank goodness!" cried Molly. "Now he just has to follow them!"

**Harry swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with flaming red hair. **

James quirked an eyebrow and looked over towards the two Weasleys. "Molly, Arthur, how many kids do you have?"

"Three," said Molly, "but why- OH! You think it could be us?" she said excitedly. When James nodded, she turned to Arthur eagerly. "Oh Arthur, that means we have another son! Of course, I always wanted a daughter, but I love every child nonetheless. Isn't this wonderful?"

Arthur nodded and beamed, but his face fell slightly when his wife turned back to the book. He wasn't sure if his job at the Ministry would be able to cover four kids, plus himself and Molly.

**Each of them was pushing a trunk like Harry's in front of him - and they had an owl.**

**Heart hammering, Harry pushed his cart after them. They stopped and so did he, just near enough to hear what they were saying.**

**"Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother.**

**"Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand, "Mom, can't I go... "**

Molly gasped. A girl was there too? She truly hoped it was her family now!

**"You're not old enough, Ginny, now be quiet. All right, Percy, you go first."**

She squealed. "Oh Arthur, it IS us! It's Percy! And we have a GIRL!" The others congratulated her heartily, knowing how much that meant to her. Arthur also looked considerably more happy. There hadn't been a girl in the Weasley family since Muriel, and he wanted a daughter quite as much as Molly did.

**What looked like the oldest boy marched toward platforms nine and ten. Harry watched, careful not to blink in case he missed it - but just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him and by the time the last backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished.**

"Rotten luck," said Sirius.

**"Fred, you next," the plump woman said.**

**"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm George?"**

"What?" asked Molly, at a loss. "We don't have a Fred OR a George…"

"Yet," said James, smirking.

"Yet…YET!" she yelped, getting his hint. "You mean we have even more? Of course, it DID say Percy was the oldest, which means Bill and Charlie have already graduated. So it said there were four boys, plus the little girl, plus Bill and Charlie…Arthur we have seven kids!" she cried happily. Arthur merely looked blown away.

**"Sorry, George, dear."**

**"Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy, and off he went. His twin called after him to hurry up, **

"Twins," Molly breathed. "Just like Fabe and Gid." Fred and Fabien, George and Gideon. Her eyes swam with tears as she thought of the brothers she loved so dearly, soon to die if this book were to be believed. "I can almost hear their voices now," she sighed.

**and he must have done so, because a second later, he had gone - but how had he done it?**

"Ask us," said Molly kindly, trying to shake the voices of her brothers out of her head.

**Now the third brother was walking briskly toward the barrier he was almost there - and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere.**

**There was nothing else for it.**

**"Excuse me," Harry said to the plump woman.**

"Finally," Sirius groaned. "Took him long enough."

**"Hello, dear," she said. "First time at Hogwarts? Ron's new, too."**

**She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet, and a long nose.**

While Sirius and Remus stifled giggles, Molly beamed at the description of one of her future children. "He's in Harry's year! Oh wouldn't it be wonderful if they became friends?" Lily nodded happily and continued, wanting to find out more.

**"Yes," said Harry. "The thing is - the thing is, I don't know how to -"**

**"How to get onto the platform?" she said kindly, and Harry nodded.**

**"Not to worry," she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Ron."**

**"Er - okay," said Harry.**

Lily paused. "Thank you Molly, so much, for helping my son," she said.

"It's no problem at all, dear," Molly replied, waving her thanks away.

**He pushed his trolley around and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid.**

"Of course it does, it's supposed to," Frank snorted.

**He started to walk toward it. People jostled him on their way to platforms nine and ten. Harry walked more quickly. He was going to smash right into that barrier and then he'd be in trouble **

"**No you won't, keep going!" shouted Sirius.**

"Quiet, I want to hear," said Remus irritably. Sirius fell silent, but Remus could still hear someone talking.

**- leaning forward on his cart, he broke into a heavy run **

The voices were growing louder, and now everyone else could hear them too. It was more than one person, and they seemed to come from the very air around them.

**- the barrier was coming nearer and nearer **

Everyone was looking around, craning their necks for a glimpse of who it could be.

**- he wouldn't be able to stop **

Neither would these voices-

**- the cart was out of control **

It sounded like they were arguing.

**- he was a foot away - he closed his eyes ready for the crash -**

CRASH!

Everyone jumped as something – someone – fell onto the ground in their midst, startling them. A second later, someone else fell on top of this mysterious man.

"OUCH! Gerroff, you lump!" yelled a muffled voice from the bottom.

"Hold your hippogriffs, I'm trying!" said another voice irritably from inside a tangle of robes. "If you hadn't insisted on 'following the light' and 'going where it leads us', we wouldn't have this problem!"

He finally extracted himself from underneath the robes and blinked around in the light. "Hullo," he said, noticing the curious faces around him. "Bit late for a tea party, innit?" He helped the other man up. "It's ok, Fabe, these fine chappies have invited us for cuppa, that's all."

When the other man straightened up, Molly gasped. It was clear to everyone that the two men were related – twins, in fact.

"Gideon! Fabien!" she cried rushing to hug them.

"Oof," groaned one of the men as she collided with them. "Watch it Molls!"

"Yeah, what's the big deal, anyways?" asked the other. "You see us all the time, why so happy now?"

She looked up at them with watery eyes, then looked around. "Somebody else explain it, please, I don't think I can."

So James decided to be the one to bring the twins up to speed. They looked slightly grim about their deaths, but as Gideon said, "I hope we took a couple of the scum out with us."

"And so, I guess you'll have to sit down and read these with us to get out of here," finished James.

"Brill!" said Gideon.

"Absolutely spiffing!" added Fabien. "Although I think we'll need another couch, my delicate derriere simply cannot stand to sit on the floor." He looked hopefully at Minerva, who sighed but conjured a couch for the twins to sit on. Gently prying Molly away from them, they sat down and looked at Lily expectantly.

"If you don't mind-"

"Beginning so that-"

"We can find out about-"

"That offspring chappie of yours?"

Giggling, the redhead complied.

**It didn't come... he kept on running... he opened his eyes. A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, eleven o'clock. Harry looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been, with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it, He had done it.**

**Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while cats of every color wound here and there between their legs. Owls hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks.**

"….aaand nobody has a toad," James said, smirking at Frank. The other boy just huffed irritably.

**The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Harry pushed his cart off down the platform in search of an empty seat. He passed a round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again."**

"Ha HA!" shouted Frank in triumph. "See? Someone has one!"

**"Oh, Neville," he heard the old woman sigh.**

"That's a cute name," Alice mused.

**A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd.**

**"Give us a look, Lee, go on."**

**The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg.**

"Wicked," said James and Sirius at the same time, grinning evilly at each other.

**Harry pressed on through the crowd until he found an empty compartment near the end of the train. He put Hedwig inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk toward the train door. He tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot.**

James winced as Sirius laughed. "Just like James, the scrawny git," he said fondly.

**"Want a hand?" It was one of the red-haired twins he'd followed through the barrier.**

"Neffie twins!" Fabien squealed.

"How splendid!" Gideon said.

The room laughed at their excitable antics.

**"Yes, please," Harry panted.**

**"Oy, Fred! C'mere and help!"**

**With the twins' help, Harry's trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment.**

Molly beamed at the thought of her sons being so polite.

**"Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes.**

**"What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar.**

Her face fell. And she had so hoped that they would turn out all right…

**"Blimey," said the other twin. "Are you-"**

**"He is," said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to Harry.**

"Well as long as you're not going to be cryptic about it," Remus huffed sarcastically.

**"What?" said Harry.**

**"Harry Potter, "chorused the twins.**

**"Oh, him," said Harry. **

Sirius burst out laughing. "Smart kid you got there!" he barked at James. His mate frowned and smacked him upside the head.

"A mistake anyone could make."

"Forgetting your own name?"

"Shut it so Lilyflower can read!"

"Call me that again, and I won't read a thing," said Lily with a playful frown.

"Yes, dear," James said, abashed. "Please continue?"

**"I mean, yes, I am."**

**The two boys gawked at him, and Harry felt himself turning red. **

"Well at least he's more modest than Potter," Regulus said with a snort. James glared at him and ruffled his hair.

**Then, to his relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door.**

**"Fred? George? Are you there?" **

**"Coming, Mom." With a last look at Harry, the twins hopped off the train.**

"Molly to the rescue," Sirius smiled.

**Harry sat down next to the window where, half hidden, he could watch the red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying. **

"Don't eavesdrop, Harry!" his mother scolded, interrupting herself.

**Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief.**

**"Ron, you've got something on your nose."**

**The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose.**

**"Mom - geroff" He wriggled free.**

Molly grimaced. Was she too overbearing?

**"Aaah, has ickle Ronnie got somefink on his nosie?" said one of the twins.**

"They'd better not make trouble for him in his first year," she growled.

**"Shut up," said Ron. **

**"Where's Percy?" said their mother. **

**"He's coming now."**

**The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes, and Harry noticed a shiny silver badge on his chest with the letter P on it.**

"Ohhh, a PREFECT!" Molly squealed, beyond proud of her son.

**"Can't stay long, Mother," he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves -"**

"Sounds like a bit of a prat to me," Sirius whispered to Remus, careful not to let the overjoyed Molly hear.

**"Oh, are you a prefect, Percy?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea."**

**"Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it," said the other twin. "Once -"**

**"Or twice -"**

**"A minute -"**

**"All summer -"**

The room laughed at this.

"Hey, they can't-"

"Just take our-"

"Favorite-"

"Joke!"

Everyone laughed again at the mock-annoyed expressions of the twins. Really, they were immensely proud that their nephews were just like them.

**"Oh, shut up," said Percy the Prefect.**

"Nice alliteration," Frank commented.

**"How come Percy gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins.**

**"Because he's a prefect," said their mother fondly.**

"Don't play favorites, dear," Arthur warned jokingly. Molly chuckled but looked worried. Did she really do that too much in the future?

"**All right, dear, well, have a good term - send me an owl when you get there."**

**She kissed Percy on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins.**

**"Now, you two - this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more owl telling me you've - you've blown up a toilet or -"**

"Our nephews are awesome!" said Gideon, giving his brother a high five while Molly shook her head sadly.

**"Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet."**

**"Great idea though, thanks, Mom."**

The twins chuckled. "Never give a trouble maker ideas," Remus cautioned, glaring at Sirius and James. They tried to look innocent, and failed miserably.

**"It's not funny. And look after Ron."**

**"Don't worry, ickle Ronniekins is safe with us."**

**"Shut up," said Ron again. He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it.**

"**Awh poor Ron," Lily said. "The twins are embarrassing him!"**

The twins in the room looked slightly downcast that family didn't mean more to their prodigies. They would never have made fun of Molly.

**"Hey, Mom, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?" Harry leaned back quickly so they couldn't see him looking.**

James chuckled. "Good, don't get caught son!"

**"You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?"**

**"Who?"**

**"Harry Potter!"**

**Harry heard the little girl's voice.**

**"Oh, Mom, can I go on the train and see him, Mom, oh please..."**

"Aww she admires him!" Alice cooed.

"I think there's something more to it," Sirius muttered to Remus, who elbowed him in the ribs. "Oof! Go easy, Remy!"

**"You've already seen him, Ginny, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. **

"Thank you, Molly," Lily said gratefully.

**Is he really, Fred? How do you know?"**

Arthur laughed. "Sounds like you're just as interested as our daughter!" Molly blushed.

**"Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there - like lightning."**

"He's gonna grow to hate that scar," Regulus muttered.

**"Poor dear - no wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform."**

**"Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?"**

Molly looked aghast and embarrassed on behalf of her future sons. "Oh my goodness, Lily, I'm so sorry!" she wailed.

"It's fine, Molly, really," the younger woman assured her. "It's natural to be curious, I suppose." But she secretly hoped that not everyone would react like Fred and George.

**Their mother suddenly became very stern.**

**"I forbid you to ask him, Fred. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school."**

"Thank you, again," said Lily. "I really can't say it enough, you barely know him and you're looking out for him!" Molly just smiled, glad she could help her friend's son.

**"All right, keep your hair on." **

Molly's hands flew up to her hair. "Oh my gosh, I don't wear a wig in the future, do I?"

Arthur laughed. "You and your hair, sweetheart. I'm sure it's fine, he's just using an expression," he assured her. He was glad that he was blessed with thick hair. It wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, he was sure of that!

**A whistle sounded.**

**"Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry.**

**"Don't, Ginny, we'll send you loads of owls." **

**"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat." **

"They'd just better not!" said Mrs. Weasley angrily.

**"George!" **

**"Only joking, Mom."**

The woman huffed. She didn't believe that for a minute.

**The train began to move. Harry saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, then she fell back and waved.**

Her mother smiled. She had been much like that when Fabian and Gideon went off to Hogwarts, she remembered.

**Harry watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. Harry felt a great leap of excitement. He didn't know what he was going to but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind.**

Minerva frowned. It certainly was. She would have to speak to Albus about the boy's living arrangements in the future- IF they were allowed to alter it in any way.

**The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest redheaded boy came in.**

The mothers of both boys looked excited. They WOULD be friends!

**"Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full."**

Molly's face fell. "_Great_ first impression, Ronald, really _splendid_."

Remus smiled. It looked like the boy had the same amount of tact as Sirius. This should be interesting.

**Harry shook his head and the boy sat down. He glanced at Harry and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked. **

Remus snorted. Yup, just like Sirius would.

**Harry saw he still had a black mark on his nose.**

**"Hey, Ron." The twins were back.**

**"Listen, we're going down the middle of the train - Lee Jordan's got a giant tarantula down there."**

Fabian shuddered. "DisGUSTING."

**"Right," mumbled Ron.**

**"Harry," said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves? Fred and George Weasley. And this is Ron, our brother. See you later, then."**

"They're not supposed to _leave_ him!" Molly huffed.

**"Bye," said Harry and Ron. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them.**

**"Are you really Harry Potter?" Ron blurted out. **

Molly sighed and put her head in her hands. "Didn't I EXPRESSLY forbid that?" she mumbled.

"Well, technically," Frank said hesitantly, "you only said that they couldn't remind him of the night his parents died, so…" his voice died off as he realized that Molly and Alice were both glaring at him. "Just saying," he muttered.

**Harry nodded.**

**"Oh -well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron. "And have you really got - you know..."**

"Worse and worse," his mother moaned.

**He pointed at Harry's forehead. Harry pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar. Ron stared. "So that's where You-Know-Who" **

**"Yes," said Harry, "but I can't remember it." **

**"Nothing?" said Ron eagerly.**

"There, now he HAS disobeyed my instructions."

**"Well - I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else."**

**"Wow," said Ron. He sat and stared at Harry for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again.**

"Thank goodness."

**"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him.**

**"Er - Yes, I think so," said Ron. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."**

Molly frowned at the mention of Eric. It was too bad that he was bitter over not being magical – he had cut himself off from the rest of the family. Estrangement was something that Molly Weasley was not a fan of.

**"So you must know loads of magic already."**

**The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about.**

Arthur sat up indignantly. "We certainly are not! We don't have the prejudices! Or the money," he murmured to himself.

**"I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?"**

**"Horrible -well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers."**

**"Five," said Ron. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. **

Molly frowned. Was her baby insecure?

**"I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left - Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. **

Both Weasley parents looked ecstatic at this news.

**Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others,****but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."**

The parents' faces fell at the thought of all that their little boy felt with such a big family. "We have to try and keep him from feeling like this," Molly whispered to her husband, who nodded.

**Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep.**

**"His name's Scabbers and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff - I mean, I got Scabbers instead."**

The Weasleys blushed and looked down. It seemed like they wouldn't be able to afford to take as good care of their children as they'd like to.

**Ron's ears went pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window.**

James frowned. He'd have to find a way to "donate" some money to the family anonymously. He knew they'd never take it if he just gave it to them, but it sounds like they needed it.

**Harry didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, he'd never had any money in his life until a month ago, and he told Ron so, all about having to wear Dudley's old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. **

Lily read this bitterly.

**This seemed to cheer Ron up.**

"They are pretty similar," Remus mused. "Good basis for a friendship." Molly looked slightly more cheerful at this.

**"... and until Hagrid told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Voldemort-"**

Most of the room flinched. "He doesn't know," said Regulus, slightly worried. "That'll make him even more different from everyone else."

**Ron gasped. "What?" said Harry.**

**"You said You-Know-Who's name!" said Ron, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people -"**

"There's nothing to be afraid of, people," said Sirius irritably.

**"I'm not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name," said Harry, "I just never knew you shouldn't. **

"But you SHOULD!"

**See what I mean? I've got loads to learn... I bet," he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class."**

Remus snorted. "If Lily's anything to go by, you won't be," he said, causing the redhead to blush.

**"You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quick enough."**

"Exhibit A," said James with a flourish, pointing to his girlfriend.

**While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past.**

**Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?"**

"Ah, the woman after Moony's heart," Sirius said, fake swooning into Remus' lap. The werewolf smacked him on the forehead and blushed furiously, muttering something about "always being hungry."

**Harry, who hadn't had any breakfast, leapt to his feet, but Ron's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. **

"He blushes a lot," said Frank thoughtlessly.

**Harry went out into the corridor.**

**He had never had any money for candy with the Dursleys, and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as he could carry - but the woman didn't have Mars Bars. **

"Why would he want candy from Mars?" Frank asked. Some others looked interested, but Lily, Alice, and Remus (who considered himself an expert on ALL chocolate, including Muggle varieties) just rolled their eyes and said nothing.

**What she did have were Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, **

"Good times," said Sirius, reminiscing about times they had those on the train.

**Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, **

"My favorite," said Alice fondly.

**Chocolate Frogs, **

Remus smacked his lips and reached for another chocolate bar.

**Pumpkin Pasties, **

Regulus smiled at the thought of his favorite treat.

**Cauldron Cakes, **

"The best," said Molly.

**Licorice Wands, **

"Wicked fun," the twins said with identical grins.

**and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid**

**the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts.**

Arthur gaped at the thought of spending that much money on candy.

**Ron stared as Harry brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat.**

**"Hungry, are you?" **

**"Starving," said Harry, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty.**

Regulus looked away to keep his brother from seeing him drool.

**Ron had taken out a lumpy package and unwrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef."**

Molly looked down that she couldn't even remember what her children didn't like on their sandwiches. Arthur noticed and patted her back. "It's ok, dear," he said softly. "You obviously have a lot on your mind." She nodded, not altogether reassured.

**"Swap you for one of these," said Harry, holding up a pasty. "Go on -"**

**"You don't want this, it's all dry," said Ron. "She hasn't got much time," he added quickly, "you know, with five of us."**

**"Go on, have a pasty," said Harry, who had never had anything to share before or, indeed, anyone to share it with. **

"That's so sad," Alice whispered.

**It was a nice feeling, sitting there with Ron, eating their way through all Harry's pasties, cakes, and candies **

"It is indeed," said Remus knowingly. He had been used to having no friends before he came to Hogwarts. The neighborhood mothers had all warned their children not to play with "that scruffy Lupin boy", because "no good would come from him". Having friends was one of the main reasons that he loved Hogwarts so much.

**(the sandwiches lay forgotten).**

**"What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs. "They're not really frogs, are they?" He was starting to feel that nothing would surprise him.**

"It took Lily a lot longer to get used to magical things," Alice said, laughing.

"Hey!" the girl in question said. "In my defense, the first time a portrait talked to me, he hit on me!" Everyone laughed. "It's not funny," she huffed. "He wasn't even cute…"

**"No," said Ron. "But see what the card is. I'm missing Agrippa."**

**"What?"**

"He doesn't know about the cards?" Remus asked in disbelief. "I hope he fixes that soon…"

**"Oh, of course, you wouldn't know - Chocolate Frogs have cards, inside them, you know, to collect - famous witches and wizards. I've got about five hundred, but I haven't got Agrippa or Ptolemy."**

"Like bubblegum cards!" said Lily brightly.

"Who would put cards in chewing gum?" Frank asked. "Mental…"

**Harry unwrapped his Chocolate Frog and picked up the card. It showed a man's face. He wore half- moon glasses, had a long, crooked nose, and flowing silver hair, beard, and mustache. **

"Dumbledore!" Sirius shouted.

"Yes, yes, we're all aware," Remus said irritably, rubbing his right ear. "Thank you for your loud unnecessary outburst."

**Underneath the picture was the name Albus Dumbledore.**

**"So this is Dumbledore!" said Harry.**

**"Don't tell me you'd never heard of Dumbledore!" said Ron. **

"Of course Muggle-raised kids haven't heard of Dumbledore," said Lily exasperatedly. "It's not like he's the kind of person you'd see strolling down one of our streets." She chuckled at the image.

**"Can I have a frog? I might get Agrippa – thanks."**

**Harry turned over his card and read: **

**ALBUS DUMBLEDORE CURRENTLY HEADMASTER OF HOGWARTS**

**Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times, Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945, for the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with his partner, Nicolas Flamel. Professor Dumbledore enjoys chamber music and tenpin bowling.**

Lily looked to Minerva. "Is that true, Professor?"

The normally stern woman nodded, a small smile on her face. "Yes indeed, Miss Evans. Professor Dumbledore even installed a bowling lane in one of the many dungeons, for when he felt his game was getting a bit rusty." The students laughed at the many oddities of their favorite Headmaster.

**Harry turned the card back over and saw, to his astonishment, that Dumbledore's face had disappeared.**

**"He's gone!"**

**"Well, you can't expect him to hang around all day," said Ron. **

Sirius chuckled. "I like this kid."

"I agree," said James. "I approve of him being Harry's best mate."

**"He'll be back. No, I've got Morgana again and I've got about six of her... do you want it? You can start collecting."**

"That was nice of him," Lily said happily.

**Ron's eyes strayed to the pile of Chocolate Frogs waiting to be unwrapped.**

"Subtle," Regulus said amusedly.

**"Help yourself," said Harry. "But in, you know, the Muggle world, people just stay put in photos."**

"Do they really?" asked Arthur, highly interested. Lily nodded and laughed as she read the next line.

**"Do they? What, they don't move at all?" Ron sounded amazed. "Weird!"**

"I agree, Ron," said Frank fervently.

**Harry stared as Dumbledore sidled back into the picture on his card and gave him a small smile. Ron was more interested in eating the frogs than looking at the Famous Witches and Wizards cards, but Harry couldn't keep his eyes off them. Soon he had not only Dumbledore and Morgana, but Hengist of Woodcroft, Alberic Grunnion, Circe, Paracelsus, and Merlin. **

"Good start to his collection," said Remus approvingly.

**He finally tore his eyes away from the druidess Cliodna, who was scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.**

"Oh no, don't!" Fabian yelled. "It's not worth it!"

Gideon snorted and rolled his eyes. "Just because of that ONE time, you won't even touch the things."

**"You want to be careful with those," Ron warned Harry. **

"Listen to him!" Fabian pleaded.

**"When they say every flavor, they mean every flavor - you know, you get all the ordinary ones like chocolate and peppermint and mar- malade, but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe. **

Regulus coughed and sent a sideways glare to Sirius at "tripe", which his older brother conveniently decided to ignore. Because of that incident a couple of years ago, the famous beans weren't Regulus' favorite, either.

**George reckons he had a booger- flavored one once."**

"I bed he did," said Fabien, narrowing his eyes at his twin. Gideon whistled and pretended not to notice.

**Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully, and bit into a corner.**

**"Bleaaargh - see? Sprouts."**

"Ooo tough luck," Sirius said, laughing.

**They had a good time eating the Every Flavor Beans. **

"We always did, too," said James, laughing with Sirius and Remus as they remembered their school train rides.

**Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean, strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and was even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny gray one Ron wouldn't touch, which turned out to be pepper.**

"Not a bad selection," said Sirius. "Except for the pepper, blech."

**The countryside now flying past the window was becoming wilder. The neat fields had gone. Now there were woods, twisting rivers, and dark green hills.**

"Because they're going to Scotland," Remus said with a smirk in Lily's direction. She used the book as an excuse not to notice.

**There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the round-faced boy Harry had passed on platform nine and three-quarters came in. He looked tearful.**

**"Sorry," he said, "but have you seen a toad at all?" When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!" **

"Aww poor boy!" said Alice sympathetically.

"And that's why toads are trouble," James told a defiant Frank.

**"He'll turn up," said Harry. **

**"Yes," said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him..." He left.**

**"Don't know why he's so bothered," said Ron. "If I'd brought a toad I'd lose it as quick as I could. **

"I definitely like this kid," James said again.

**Mind you, I brought Scabbers, so I can't talk."**

**The rat was still snoozing on Ron's lap.**

"Dozy thing, innit?" Sirius asked. "Sounds as useless as Peter." He laughed at his own joke.

Remus hit his arm. "Don't joke on Peter. He's still our friend, even if he is a bit…bumbling," he said. "It's karma, it might come back to you!"

"Come off it," Sirius scoffed. "Pete can't do anything to me. And besides, I was only joking!"

**"He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference," said Ron in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look..."**

"But color-changing spells aren't until sixth year," said Alice, confused.

"Probably a dud spell from a family member," Gideon said with a smirk.

**He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end.**

Arthur looked worried at the sound of the wand. Couldn't he even afford the necessary equipment for his child's education?

**"Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway-"**

**He had just raised his wand when the compartment door slid open again. The toadless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes.**

"A bit eager, isn't she?" Sirius raised his eyebrows.

"Not really," Lily said in the girl's defense. "She's probably just excited. Besides, there's no right or wrong time to put them on." She herself had put them on as soon as the train left the station, but she kept that bit of information to herself.

**"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one," she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.**

Sirius laughed. "Real attractive-sounding girl," he said. "Great personality to – bossy, I mean really?"

Lily glared at him. "It's not nice to judge," she huffed.

**"We've already told him we haven't seen it," said Ron, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand.**

**"Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then." She sat down. **

"Muggle-born," Lily and Remus said at the same time.

**Ron looked taken aback. **

**"Er - all right." He cleared his throat.**

**"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."**

The whole room laughed at the stupid sounding spell. "Yup, definitely a dud!" said Fabien. "Probably from our dear namesakes." He and his twin high fived.

**He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Scabbers stayed gray and fast asleep.**

**"Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? **

"See? Even she knows it's not real!"

**I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. **

"I wish I had known that I could legally do that," Lily mused.

**Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft there is, I've heard - I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough - I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"**

"Merlin, the girl can talk, can't she?" Sirius said, blown away by how fast Lily had read that.

"She's probably just excited, and like I said, don't judge," Lily said.

**She said all this very fast.**

"Understatement of the year," Sirius muttered.

**Harry looked at Ron, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned all the course books by heart either.**

"Who in their right mind would?" asked James incredulously. Most people shrugged, but Lily and Remus blushed, while Minerva's mouth seemed to form a thin line.

"Carry on, Miss Evans."

**"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron muttered. **

**"Harry Potter," said Harry.**

**"Are you really?" said Hermione. **

"You mean she knows who he is?" asked a surprised Regulus. "He's that famous?" James looked immensely proud of his son.

**"I know all about you, of course - I got a few extra books for background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century."**

"Merlin," Sirius breathed. "All that? He really IS famous!"

**"Am I?" said Harry, feeling dazed.**

"The same way I feel," said James.

**"Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me," said Hermione. **

"Hmph," snorted Lily. She liked this girl a tiny bit less now. It wasn't Harry's fault that he didn't know. She just didn't know the full story.

**"Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; **

"It is!" James and Sirius cheered, while Minerva smiled at them.

**I hear Dumbledore himself was in it, **

"Whoa…" the Gryffindor fans breathed.

**but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad... **

"It isn't," said Regulus. "Nice, logical, level-headed people in there." Remus and Lily found themselves agreeing with him, and even Minerva noted that she was good friends with a number of Ravenclaws, particularly Filius.

**Anyway, we'd better go and look for Neville's toad. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon."**

"Well I'm glad she's helping that poor boy, at least," said Alice, although she didn't much approve of the girl's attitude.

**And she left, taking the toadless boy with her.**

**"Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it," said Ron. **

"That's not very nice," said Arthur, although he found himself thinking that the book would be a little less enjoyable if that girl was in it much.

**He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell - George gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud."**

The twins smirked and high fived again; they were right!

**"What house are your brothers in?" asked Harry.**

**"Gryffindor," said Ron. **

The Weasleys smiled at the continuation of their family House tradition.

**Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. **

Their faces fell quickly.

**"Mom and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. **

"We wouldn't mind," said Molly quickly. "It doesn't matter to us at all, does it Arthur?"

"Not one bit," he said, nodding.

**I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin."**

Sirius shuddered. "That'd be bloody awful!" His brother glared at him.

**"That's the house Vol-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?"**

"Say the name, Harry!" James pleaded.

**"Yeah," said Ron. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed.**

**"You know, I think the ends of Scabbers' whiskers are a bit lighter," said Harry, trying to take Ron's mind off houses. **

"Such a thoughtful boy," Molly said fondly.

**"So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?"**

**Harry was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school.**

**"Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, **

Mrs. Weasley narrowed her eyes. "He'd better just be STUDYING them, and not HANDLING them," she said dangerously.

**and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts," said Ron. **

"Well I suppose that's safe enough…"

**"Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles - someone tried to rob a high security vault."**

Everyone gasped. "But that's impossible!" Frank shouted.

"I wonder what happened to them?" James wondered. "Keep reading, Lily!"

**Harry stared. "Really? What happened to them?"**

**"Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. **

"What?" "Really?" "Impossible!" "It must be Dark magic!"

Once everyone had finished giving their views on the matter, Lily continued.

**My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it."**

"Oh I hope not," said a worried Alice. "He's supposed to be gone!"

**Harry turned this news over in his mind. He was starting to get a prickle of fear every time You- Know-Who was mentioned. **

"Noooo don't give in!" Sirius wailed.

**He supposed this was all part of entering the magical world, but it had been a lot more comfortable saying "Voldemort" without worrying.**

"That's because it's the sensible thing to do," said James with a nod.

**"What's your Quidditch team?" Ron asked. **

**"Er - I don't know any," Harry confessed. **

James choked a little and looked despairingly to Sirius, the only person that he felt would understand how much that hurt. His own son not knowing about Quidditch!

**"What!" Ron looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world -" **

"That it is!" James exclaimed.

**And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the money. He was just taking Harry through the finer points of the game when the compartment door slid open yet again, **

"Ugh, I hope it's not the know-it-all," Sirius muttered.

**but it wasn't Neville the toadless boy, or Hermione Granger this time.**

Sirius cheered.

**Three boys entered, and Harry recognized the middle one at once: it was the pale boy from Madam Malkin's robe shop. **

His face fell. "Oh, it's _him. _What does _he _want?" he sneered.

**He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley.**

"As he should!" said James proudly.

**"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"**

**"Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards.**

"Sounds like…"

**"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. **

"Yup, figured."

**"And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."**

Sirius gave a nasty smile. "I'm glad Narcissa decided to carry on the rather unfortunate Black naming tradition. Draco, honestly," he said with a smirk.

**Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.**

**"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."**

"How dare he!" Lily yelled, while everyone else glared or growled at the book. "The Weasleys are the nicest people around!"

Molly and Arthur looked gratified but embarrassed by the attention they were getting.

**He turned back to Harry. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there."**

"I can't believe the little…" James muttered.

**He held out his hand to shake Harry's, but Harry didn't take it.**

"Good!" said Sirius emphatically, high fiving James. "Your son knows who his real friends are already."

**"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," he said coolly.**

"You tell him!" said Lily. She was so proud of her son already.

**Draco Malfoy didn't go red, but a pink tinge appeared in his pale cheeks.**

"Y'know, I don't think Malfoys have enough human in them to blush," said Sirius conversationally. "I think one of their ancestors hooked up with a dementor in the past, to be honest." No one but Minerva could hold in their laughter at that.

**"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter," he said slowly. "Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. **

"The nerve of him!" Alice said. "How DARE he? He's worse than Dudley!"

"I'll be sure to curse Malfoy soon enough," said Sirius angrily.

**You hang around with riffraff like the Weasleys and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."**

"They're not riffraff!" said Remus indignantly. "He should watch what he says!"

**Both Harry and Ron stood up.**

**"Say that again," Ron said, his face as red as his hair.**

"Go Ron!" Sirius yelled, at the same time as Molly said "Don't fight!"

**"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered.**

"They could take you," Gideon said confidently.

**"Unless you get out now," said Harry, more bravely than he felt, because Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than him or Ron.**

"Oh, well that's true…" Fabien admitted.

**"But we don't feet like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."**

**Goyle reached toward the Chocolate Frogs next to Ron **

"Punch him!" This came, surprisingly, from Remus.

**- Ron leapt forward, but before he'd so much as touched Goyle, Goyle let out a horrible yell.**

**Scabbers the rat was hanging off his finger, sharp little teeth sunk deep into Goyle's knuckle **

"Go Scabbers!" the Marauders and the twins cheered. Molly just sighed. She was glad that it hadn't resorted to her child fighting.

**- Crabbe and Malfoy backed away as Goyle swung Scabbers round and round, howling, and when Scabbets finally flew off and hit the window, all three of them disappeared at once. **

"Good riddance!" Frank cheered.

**Perhaps they thought there were more rats lurking among the sweets, or perhaps they'd heard footsteps, because a second later, Hermione Granger had come in.**

"Oh no, not her!" Sirius groaned.

**"What has been going on?" she said, looking at the sweets all over the floor and Ron picking up Scabbers by his tail.**

"**I think he's been knocked out," Ron said to Harry. He looked closer at Scabbers. "No - I don't believe it - he's gone back to sleep-"**

The Marauders roared with laughter. "I love that rat," James said merrily.

**And so he had. "You've met Malfoy before?" Harry explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley.**

**"I've heard of his family," said Ron darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. **

"I don't believe that for an instant," Arthur said grimly.

**My dad doesn't believe it. He says Malfoy's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side." **

"He certainly didn't!"

**He turned to Hermione. "Can we help you with something?"**

Sirius snickered.

**"You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. **

"Who asks the conductor? You get there when you get there! Sheesh."

**You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get there!"**

"And?" James asked. "He'll just be living up to his Marauder heritage!" Lily glared at him.

**"Scabbers has been fighting, not us," said Ron, scowling at her. **

"Well, it's true," said an amused Remus.

**"Would you mind leaving while we change?"**

"Please do," said Sirius thankfully.

**"All right - I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors," said Hermione in a sniffy voice. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?"**

"Stuck up," someone muttered.

**Ron glared at her as she left. Harry peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He could see mountains and forests under a deep purple sky. The train did seem to be slowing down.**

**He and Ron took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Ron's were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them.**

"Oh," said Molly sadly. Weren't her children even properly clothed?

**A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."**

**Harry's stomach lurched with nerves and Ron, he saw, looked pale under his freckles. **

Everyone in the room looked excited. How would the castle have changed since they were there? What would the boys' year be like?

**They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor.**

**The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Harry shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Harry heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Harry?" Hagrid's big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.**

Lily and James smiled fondly. The perfect person to introduce Harry to Hogwarts.

**"C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! **

"Good advice," said Frank sagely. Everyone who remembered his first night laughed. On one hand, he had been the first to reach the bottom of the hill. On the other hand, it had come with several bumps and bruises from falling the whole way down.

**Firs' years follow me!"**

**Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice.**

"Poor kid," Alice said again sadly. She seemed to feel for the guy.

**"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."**

**There was a loud "Oooooh!"**

Everyone smiled. It was a truly magnificent sight, and for some of them (Remus and Sirius in particular), it symbolized home.

**The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.**

Remus sighed. He missed the place already.

**"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry and Ron were followed into their boat by Neville and Hermione. **

Sirius scowled slightly at the mention of the girl.

**"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, who had a boat to himself. "Right then - FORWARD!"**

**And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.**

Minerva sniffed slightly at the description of her home. It was indeed beautiful.

**"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff **(Remus nudged Sirius and they both laughed, remembering their disastrous boat ride)**; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbor, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles.**

**"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?" said Hagrid, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them.**

**"Trevor!" cried Neville blissfully, holding out his hands. **

Alice smiled. "I'm glad he got it back."

**Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Hagrid's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle.**

**They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door.**

**"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"**

**Hagrid raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.**

"Oooo suspenseful!" said Fabian in a mysterious voice. "Now hurry up and read, Jamsie boy, and take the stress off of us!"

James chuckled as Lily handed him the book.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: So FanFiction finally let me put this up, and I'm so excited! I'm extraordinarily sorry for the wait, but a series of things in real life coupled with my short attention span sabotaged this chapter. I truly hope to have the next chapter up sooner, but don't hold your breath until June. I'm well into exam season and I have much revising to do, so I won't have a lot of spare time. But here it is! Please remember to review, they keep me motivated. Until next time! ~ Romulus

P.S. A cookie and ten points to anyone who can guess my inspiration for the twins' speech ;) Also, sorry for the repetition that might occur, since I write these over several days. Someone pointed out last chapter that I used "chappie" a lot, and I laughed for about 5 minutes. So thanks for catching that! :D

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

**The door swung open at once. A tall, black-haired witch in emerald-green robes stood there. **

Minerva smiled at the mention of herself.

**She had a very stern face and Harry's first thought was that this was not someone to cross.**

"Well he certainly has the right first impression," she said. "Unlike his father…" She glared over her glasses at a grinning James.

**"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid. **

"Well duh, who else would they be?" Frank asked rhetorically.

**"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here."**

**She pulled the door wide. The entrance hall was so big you could have fit the whole of the Dursleys' house in it. **

Lily raised her eyebrows. "I wasn't aware that Vernon did so well at his drill firm."

**The stone walls were lit with flaming torches like the ones at Gringotts, the ceiling was too high to make out, and a magnificent marble staircase facing them led to the upper floors.**

"It's all magnificent," Remus said with a smile.

**They followed Professor McGonagall across the flagged stone floor. Harry could hear the drone of hundreds of voices from a doorway to the right -the rest of the school must already be here - but Professor McGonagall showed the first years into a small, empty chamber off the hall. They crowded in, standing rather closer together than they would usually have done, peering about nervously.**

"I remember that day well," Sirius grinned. "James was such a scared little git."

"Oi!" his best mate said indignantly. "If I remember correctly, a certain pure-blood was white as a sheet, wondering if he was going the same way as the rest of his family. And then the Bloody Baron showed up..."

"Alright, alright!" Sirius huffed. "Just keep reading."

**"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.**

Sirius groaned. "Oh come _on_ Professor, that's the same speech you gave us! You have to change it up!"

Minerva sniffed. "I have better things to do than sit around making up speeches. Like dealing with certain trouble makers," she finished, casting a stern eye over three of her favorite students. Remus was the only one with the grace to look slightly ashamed.

**"The four houses are called Gryffindor, **

Everyone cheered. Regulus merely looked slightly bored.

**Hufflepuff, **

Alice and James clapped fairly.

**Ravenclaw, **

Lily and Remus applauded.

**and Slytherin. **

Regulus smirked, while James booed. "Mr. Potter, I ask that you keep your biases to yourself," said Minerva. He sat back looking disgruntled, and glared at the smiling Regulus.

**Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. **

"And evil ones," James muttered.

**While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rulebreaking will lose house points. **

"And we know quite a bit about that," Gideon and Fabian said. Sirius agreed.

**At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. **

"Hmm. Somehow, we always missed that," Sirius mused, faking seriousness.

"Yes," Minerva said icily. "I am well aware." Losing the house cup six years in a row since the Marauders had come to school was a sore point with her, something Horace was always happy to exploit. Even Filius joked about it, and Minerva knew that only Pomona's loyalty kept her silent on the matter.

**I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.**

"Why do I even bother, it didn't work when I said it to _them_," she muttered.

**"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."**

**Her eyes lingered for a moment on Neville's cloak, which was fastened under his left ear, and on Ron's smudged nose. **

Molly looked annoyed that even after her best attempts, that spot was still there.

**Harry nervously tried to flatten his hair.**

Lily snorted. "Good luck sweetie," she said with a sideways glance at James and his own messed-up locks. She found that it didn't annoy her as much as it used to. She even found it kind of…endearing.

**"I shall return when we are ready for you," said Professor McGonagall. "Please wait quietly."**

"Just so you know, we weren't quiet," Sirius said with a cheeky grin towards his favorite professor. She just rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Honestly, I didn't expect you to be."

**She left the chamber. Harry swallowed. "How exactly do they sort us into houses?" he asked Ron.**

**"Some sort of test, I think. Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking."**

Molly slapped Fabian on the arm. "I blame you, it sounds like something you would do."

Her brother rubbed his arm and gave her an injured look. "Well I at least would have told him the truth…eventually."

**Harry's heart gave a horrible jolt. A test? In front of the whole school? But he didn't know any magic yet - what on earth would he have to do?**

"Oh c'mon, even I didn't think they would ever do that to us on the first day," Lily said.

**He hadn't expected something like this the moment they arrived. He looked around anxiously and saw that everyone else looked terrified, too. **

"Wow. This class seems kind of…dumb," said Regulus. "Or maybe the word is 'gullible'," he amended at the numerous glares sent his way.

**No one was talking much except Hermione Granger, who was whispering very fast about all the spells she'd learned and wondering which one she'd need. **

Sirius gave a sound of disgust. "Of course she would, the little know-it-all." Lily frowned at him.

**Harry tried hard not to listen to her. **

"Trust me, I am too."

**He'd never been more nervous, never, not even when he'd had to take a school report home to the Dursleys saying that he'd somehow turned his teacher's wig blue. **

For some reason, Sirius found this hilarious. After about half a minute of him rolling on the floor, Lily asked him what it was about. "Prongs…fourth year…Marcie Hearn…" he managed to gasp out before James silenced him. Red-faced, he hurriedly began reading again.

**He kept his eyes fixed on the door. Any second now, Professor McGonagall would come back and lead him to his doom.**

"Now really," the woman in question sniffed, "am I really that intimidating to the first years?" Everyone was suddenly very interested in looking anywhere but her.

**Then something happened that made him jump about a foot in the air - several people behind him screamed.**

"Oh no," Lily moaned.

**"What the -?"**

**He gasped. So did the people around him. About twenty ghosts had just streamed through the back wall. **

"Oh, well if that's all. No need to go scaring a body like that."

**Pearly-white and slightly transparent, they glided across the room talking to one another and hardly glancing at the first years. They seemed to be arguing. **

"Peeves," the trouble makers said knowingly.

**What looked like a fat little monk was saying: "Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance -"**

Lily snorted. "As if, the little terror would wreak so much havoc."

**"My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? **

Lily and Minerva both nodded in agreement with the unknown ghost.

**He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost - I say, what are you all doing here?"**

"Like he doesn't know," said Alice.

**A ghost wearing a ruff and tights had suddenly noticed the first years. Nobody answered.**

**"New students!" said the Fat Friar, smiling around at them. "About to be Sorted, I suppose?"**

**A few people nodded mutely.**

"Oh rot and bother, and here was I thinking they had popped in for a spot of tea."

"Sorry, old boy, but I suppose you can't win them all."

"No, I don't suppose you can."

"Shut it, you two."

**"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!" said the Friar. "My old house, you know."**

**"Move along now," said a sharp voice. "The Sorting Ceremony's about to start."**

**Professor McGonagall had returned. One by one, the ghosts floated away through the opposite wall.**

"Really, the boy makes me sound like a drill sergeant," the teacher huffed.

**"Now, form a line," Professor McGonagall told the first years, "and follow me."**

**Feeling oddly as though his legs had turned to lead, Harry got into line behind a boy with sandy hair, with Ron behind him, and they walked out of the chamber, back across the hall, and through a pair of double doors into the Great Hall.**

**Harry had never even imagined such a strange and splendid place. It was lit by thousands and thousands of candles that were floating in midair over four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. These tables were laid with glittering golden plates and goblets. **

A couple of people sighed at this description of one of the best places on Earth.

**At the top of the hall was another long table where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall led the first years up here, so that they came to a halt in a line facing the other students, with the teachers behind them. The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver. Mainly to avoid all the staring eyes, Harry looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars. He heard Hermione whisper, "Its bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts, A History."**

"What HASN'T she read about?" Sirius huffed.

"Reading would do you a bit of good," Lily sniffed.

**It was hard to believe there was a ceiling there at all, and that the Great Hall didn't simply open on to the heavens.**

"Awh yeah, Quidditch in the Great Hall!" James cheered. Lily glared at him, trying to hold back a smile.

**Harry quickly looked down again as Professor McGonagall silently placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years. On top of the stool she put a pointed wizard's hat. **

"The Sorting Hat!" said Sirius. "It's almost time!"

**This hat was patched and frayed and extremely dirty. Aunt Petunia wouldn't have let it in the house.**

Lily snorted but otherwise didn't comment.

**Maybe they had to try and get a rabbit out of it, Harry thought wildly, that seemed the sort of thing **

Frank looked unsettled. "Lily, your son is weird. There's no denying it."

"Oh hush," she snapped. "It's a common Muggle misconception of magic, nothing unusual."

**- noticing that everyone in the hall was now staring at the hat, he stared at it, too. For a few seconds, there was complete silence. Then the hat twitched. A rip near the brim opened wide like a mouth - and the hat began to sing:**

James did his best impression of the hat's singing voice, much to the others' dismay.

**"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty, **

"I wouldn't wear it out if my life depended on it," Alice giggled.

**But don't judge on what you see, **

**I'll eat myself if you can find **

**A smarter hat than me.**

"Note to self: Find a smarter hat," Sirius said to Remus, who was having trouble keeping a straight face.

**You can keep your bowlers black, **

**Your top hats sleek and tall, **

**For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat **

**And I can cap them all.**

**There's nothing hidden in your head **

**The Sorting Hat can't see, **

"Well that's creepy," Lily said breezily.

**So try me on and I will tell you **

**Where you ought to be.**

**You might belong in Gryffindor, **

**Where dwell the brave at heart, **

**Their daring, nerve, and chivalry **

**Set Gryffindors apart;**

Everyone but Regulus cheered at this description.

**You might belong in Hufflepuff,**

**Where they are just and loyal,**

**Those patient Hufflepuffis are true **

**And unafraid of toil;**

Alice nodded in agreement.

**Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,**

**if you've a ready mind,**

**Where those of wit and learning,**

**Will always find their kind;**

Lily and Remus sat thinking how different their lives would be if they had been sorted there.

**Or perhaps in Slytherin**

**You'll make your real friends,**

**Those cunning folk use any means**

**To achieve their ends.**

Regulus smiled slyly.

**So put me on! Don't be afraid!**

**And don't get in a flap!**

**You're in safe hands (though I have none)**

**For I'm a Thinking Cap!"**

"Well that was a much happier song than normal," said Molly.

"I suspect it's because they aren't in a war," replied Frank. Everyone smiled at the thought of the next generation growing up without the constant fear they had in this time.

**The whole hall burst into applause as the hat finished its song. It bowed to each of the four tables and then became quite still again.**

**"So we've just got to try on the hat!" Ron whispered to Harry. "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll."**

Gideon and Fabian snickered at the thought of their nephew tricking his little brother.

**Harry smiled weakly. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but he did wish they could have tried it on without everyone watching. The hat seemed to be asking rather a lot; Harry didn't feel brave or quick-witted or any of it at the moment. **

"No one ever does," said Remus with a laugh.

**If only the hat had mentioned a house for people who felt a bit queasy, that would have been the one for him.**

"Hmm, the Queasles."

"I quite like it."

"It sounds like the measles."

"You're right of course, old boy. Ah no matter, we'll work on it."

**Professor McGonagall now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment.**

**"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"**

**A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moments pause -**

**"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat.**

Alice clapped politely for the girl.

**The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Harry saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.**

**"Bones, Susan!"**

"I wonder if she's related to Amelia and Edgar?" James asked.

"It's quite possible, probably a daughter."

**"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah.**

"Ah, the same house as Amelia," Minerva said proudly.

**"Boot, Terry!" **

**"RAVENCLAW!"**

Lily and Frank smiled. James, on the other hand, was disgruntled. "Aren't there any bloody Gryffindors in this year?"

**The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them.**

"How formal," Sirius sniffed.

**" Brocklehurst, Mandy" went to Ravenclaw too, but "Brown, Lavender" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; **

As did James and Sirius. Minerva smiled at a mention of what was probably her future pupil.

**Harry could see Ron's twin brothers catcalling.**

Molly groaned. "Those two…"

**"Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. **

James and Sirius hissed while the twins booed. Regulus looked distinctly unimpressed.

**Perhaps it was Harry's imagination, after all he'd heard about Slytherin, but he thought they looked like an unpleasant lot. **

"It's not your imagination," James said darkly. He looked to Sirius for confirmation. The eldest Black glanced at his younger brother and said nothing.

**He was starting to feel definitely sick now. He remembered being picked for teams during gym at his old school. He had always been last to be chosen, not because he was no good, but because no one wanted Dudley to think they liked him.**

"What a fat, bullying git. He has the whole school scared of him!" Lily said.

**"Finch-Fletchley, Justin!" **

**"HUFFLEPUFF!"**

**Sometimes, Harry noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. **

"It took almost a full minute with me," said Arthur. Lily, Minerva, Sirius, and Remus nodded in agreement. James looked bored and fake-yawned.

"Hmph, it had no problems with me. It only took about a second!"

"I'm sure that's because there was no house with "huge ego" as a characteristic," Regulus said snarkily. James looked indignant, but Lily gave a look that told him to keep reading.

**"Finnigan, Seamus," the sandy-haired boy next to Harry in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor.**

James cheered.

**"Granger, Hermione!" Hermione almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head. "GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. **

Another cheer from James, but a groan from Sirius. "What's wrong? That's another Gryffindor!" James said.

"Now we'll have to hear about her more," Sirius said. "Plus, I thought for sure she was a Ravenclaw!" Lily glared at him.

**Ron groaned.**

Lily felt annoyed with this boy too, but decided not to comment with Molly in the room.

**A horrible thought struck Harry, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous. What if he wasn't chosen at all? What if he just sat there with the hat over his eyes for ages, until Professor McGonagall jerked it off his head and said there had obviously been a mistake and he'd better get back on the train?**

"What a pessimist," Frank sighed. "Professor, has that ever happened?"

"Never," Minerva said, confirming Frank's unspoken point that Harry was being ridiculous.

"Well he doesn't know that," Lily said defensively.

**When Neville Longbottom, **

"Wait, Longbottom?" Frank asked. "Did you say Longbottom? So that…that's my son! It has to be!" He looked happy, but his face fell when he saw the obviously false smile on Alice's face. "What's wrong, love?"

"Neville…I like that name," she said, smiling sadly. "It's just…well, we know for sure that he's yours, but we have no way of knowing if he's…you know…"

For once, Frank needed no encouragement to know what she was trying to say. "I'm sure he is," he said with a smile. "I love you very much, Alice. And if you like the name Neville, then I'm pretty sure you picked it out. I've never even thought of it before."

Alice looked genuinely happy now. She threw her arms around Frank's neck and kissed him full on the mouth for a long time. A cough sounded, and a distinctly embarrassed-looking James looked pointedly at them. "If we could continue…?"

"Oh, of course!" Alice said breathlessly, breaking away quickly. "Yes…carry on!"

**the boy who kept losing his toad, **

"Awh, I knew there was a reason I felt bad for him!" Alice glared at everyone else. "Now that he's my son, no jokes about the toad."

**was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. **

Frank and Alice sighed in unison. "Definitely ours."

**The hat took a long time to decide with Neville. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," **

"YES I'm so proud!" Frank said, almost glowing.

**Neville ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag."**

"How's that pride?" James asked with a smirk.

"Shut it, Potter."

**Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"**

"No doubt it did," Sirius muttered darkly.

**Malfoy went to join his friends Crabbe and Goyle, looking pleased with himself.**

"Awh yay, all the Death Eater spawn are together! It'll be like happy play time!" he said with false enthusiasm.

**There weren't many people left now. "Moon", "Nott", **

"Scum" was heard from somewhere in Sirius' direction.

**"Parkinson", then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil",**

"Oh, I hope they're in the same house," said Gideon. He couldn't imagine not rooming with Fabian when they were at school.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they are," his twin replied.

**then "Perks, Sally-Anne", and then, at last - "Potter, Harry!"**

Lily and James were tense with excitement.

**As Harry stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall.**

**"Potter, did she say?" **

"**The Harry Potter?"**

"No, the other one," said Lily. "Now can we move on?"

**The last thing Harry saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him. Next second he**

**was looking at the black inside of the hat. He waited.**

"**Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. **

"No it's not," said a suddenly panicked James. "He's a Gryffindor. Plain and simple."

**Plenty of courage, I see. **

"Yes. Yes there is. Enough to be a lion."

**Not a bad mind either. **

Lily stiffened. Was her son a Ravenclaw? She could see what it would have been like to be one…

**There's talent, my goodness, yes - and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting... **

"What is that, a Slytherin characteristic? What is he saying?"

**So where shall I put you?"**

"Gryffindor, you stupid piece of cloth!"

**Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, Not Slytherin, not Slytherin.**

"That's my boy!"

**"Not Slytherin, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that**

James was extremely white. No, it's not possible. There hadn't been a Slytherin in the Potter family…ever. Not as far as he knew. And they sure as hell better not start now, he thought.

**- no? Well, if you're sure - better be GRYFFINDOR!"**

Lily thought James was going to faint. While Sirius and Remus were cheering, he seemed unable to even speak. "What's wrong?"

"Lils…our son was almost a Slytherin. A bloody _snake_. That's not ok!"

Suddenly his vision was obscured by angry green eyes while his face was grabbed forcefully by the redhead. "You listen to me, James Charlus Potter. He is your son, whether he's a Slytherin, a Gryffindor, or a bloody Muggle, _got that_?"

James nodded meekly. He made a mental note to never slip up in front of Lily again. But…he still wasn't happy about this.

**Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. He took off the hat and walked shakily toward the Gryffindor table. He was so relieved to have been chosen and not put in Slytherin, **

"Trust me, so am I," James muttered quietly.

**he hardly noticed that he was getting the loudest cheer yet. **

He smiled proudly. His boy was famous and popular already!

**Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously, **

"Prat." Sirius tried to disguise it as a cough, but Regulus still elbowed him.

**while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!" **

The twins in the room were doing the same.

**Harry sat down opposite the ghost in the ruff he'd seen earlier. The ghost patted his arm, giving Harry the sudden, horrible feeling he'd just plunged it into a bucket of ice-cold water.**

Alice shuddered. "Oh, I hate when they do that!"

**He could see the High Table properly now. At the end nearest him sat Hagrid, who caught his eye and gave him the thumbs up. Harry grinned back. And there, in the center of the High Table, in a large gold chair, sat Albus Dumbledore. **

Almost everyone smiled at the mention of their favorite adult figure at Hogwarts. Even Minerva allowed herself a rare grin.

**Harry recognized him at once from the card he'd gotten out of the Chocolate Frog on the train. **

"How could you not recognize him?" Sirius laughed.

**Dumbledore's silver hair was the only thing in the whole hall that shone as brightly as the ghosts. Harry spotted Professor Quirtell, too, the nervous young man from the Leaky Cauldron. **

Molly frowned. The man who wasn't fit to teach.

**He was looking very peculiar in a large purple turban.**

"I imagine anyone would look peculiar in a getup like that."

**And now there were only three people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean," a Black boy even taller than Ron, joined Harry at the Gryffindor table. **

James cheered once again.

**"Turpin, Lisa," became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn. He was pale green by now. Harry crossed his fingers under the table and a second later the hat had shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"**

Everyone cheered and congratulated the Weasleys, who looked very pleased indeed.

**Harry clapped loudly with the rest as Ron collapsed into the chair next to him.**

**"Well done, Ron, excellent," said Percy Weasley pompously across Harry as "Zabini, Blaise," was made a Slytherin. **

"Can he speak any other way?" Sirius wondered.

"That's my son you're talking about," Molly snapped. She didn't appreciate anyone bashing her babies.

Quick to diffuse the tension, Remus spoke up. "Didn't the book say there were three people to be Sorted after Harry? With that Zabini kid, that's four."

"Well, the author must just be bad at maths," Lily suggested.

"Well regardless, it's going to bother me," the werewolf huffed.

"Good old Meticulous Moony," Sirius chuckled, ruffling his friend's hair.

**Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll and took the Sorting Hat away.**

**Harry looked down at his empty gold plate. He had only just realized how hungry he was. The pumpkin pasties seemed ages ago.**

"They always do," Frank sighed wistfully.

**Albus Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms opened wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.**

"Nothing does," said Minerva fondly.

**"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!**

Everyone burst out laughing. "Good ole mad Dumbles," Sirius chortled. "He never changes!"

**"Thank you!"**

**He sat back down. Everybody clapped and cheered. Harry didn't know whether to laugh or not.**

"Just laugh, it's a good rule of thumb," Arthur said with a smile.

**"Is he - a bit mad?" he asked Percy uncertainly.**

"Well of course he is!"

"It's part of his charm!"

"Just like us!"

"Pipe down and let James continue, you hooligans."

**"Mad?" said Percy airily. "He's a genius! Best wizard in the world! But he is a bit mad, yes. Potatoes, Harry?"**

**Harry's mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.**

"Close your mouth," James said without looking up. Sirius closed it and sat back looking disgruntled. "How did he know?"

**The Dursleys had never exactly starved Harry, but he'd never been allowed to eat as much as he liked. Dudley had always taken anything that Harry really wanted, even if it made him sick. **

"As if he needed it," Molly spat. "The fat little…" she took a deep breath. "It's ok, Harry's at Hogwarts now. Hopefully the poor dear will fatten up."

**Harry piled his plate with a bit of everything except the peppermints and began to eat. It was all delicious.**

**"That does look good," said the ghost in the ruff sadly, watching Harry cut up his steak.**

"Poor Nick," Frank said sadly.

**"Can't you -?"**

Remus looked amused. "And how, pray tell, does he expect him to be able to?"

"**I haven't eaten for nearly four hundred years," said the ghost. "I don't need to, of course, but one does miss it. I don't think I've introduced myself? Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington at your service. Resident ghost of Gryffindor Tower."**

**"I know who you are!" said Ron suddenly. "My brothers told me about you - you're Nearly Headless Nick!"**

"Oh Ronald," Molly sighed.

**"I would prefer you to call me Sir Nicholas de Mimsy -" the ghost began stiffly, but sandy-haired Seamus Finnigan interrupted.**

**"Nearly Headless? How can you be nearly headless?"**

"Oh gross." Alice closed her eyes.

"Dear, you can't even see him."

"I don't care, it's still gross."

**Sir Nicholas looked extremely miffed, as if their little chat wasn't going at all the way he wanted.**

Sirius snorted. "Great fibber, that one is. He absolutely loves explaining his death. Every ghost does."

"Except the Bloody Baron," James reminded him.

Sirius shuddered. "Yes, except him."

**"Like this," he said irritably. He seized his left ear and pulled. His whole head swung off his neck and fell onto his shoulder as if it was on a hinge. Someone had obviously tried to behead him, but not done it properly. **

"Obviously."

**Looking pleased at the stunned looks on their faces, **

"See?"

**Nearly Headless Nick flipped his head back onto his neck, coughed, and said, "So - new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the cup six years in a row! **

"Ugh!" James looked like he was in physical pain at this news.

"James, calm down. It's just a cup."

"Just a cup? It's the honor of the whole house on the line, that's what it is!" Lily just shook her head and muttered "boys".

**The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable - he's the Slytherin ghost."**

"Isn't he usually unbearable?"

"Not always," said Regulus, examining his nails. "I've had some quite stimulating conversations with him."

Sirius looked aghast. "You're kidding." Regulus took a long time to respond. Finally he looked up.

"Yes." Sirius' face cracked into a wide grin and he cuffed his brother on the arm. James decided to keep reading before it got too weird for him.

**Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood. He was right next to Malfoy who, Harry was pleased to see, didn't look too pleased with the seating arrangements.**

Sirius laughed. "Take THAT!"

**"How did he get covered in blood?" asked Seamus with great interest.**

**"I've never asked," said Nearly Headless Nick delicately.**

"We have," the Marauders chorused.

"He never let us know," Remus said sadly.

Lily looked shocked. "Remus, you wanted to know?"

He looked faintly annoyed. "Of course I did. It's knowledge. It also probably pertains to the history of Hogwarts, seeing as each ghost had a strong tie to the place. Wouldn't that interest you?"

Rather than admit she was wrong, Lily just sat back, although her cheeks were faintly pink with embarrassment.

**When everyone had eaten as much as they could, the remains of the food faded from the plates, leaving them sparkling clean as before. A moment later the desserts appeared. Blocks of ice cream in every flavor you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate eclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding - "**

"Again, mouth closed." Sirius didn't even bother to look mad this time – he wanted that pudding.

**As Harry helped himself to a treacle tart, the talk turned to their families.**

**"I'm half-and-half," said Seamus. "Me dad's a Muggle. Mom didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him."**

Frank winced. "Bad idea, mate. That's why my cousin Harriet got divorced. Her husband couldn't handle the shock and left her."

**The others laughed. **

"Not always funny," Frank muttered.

**"What about you, Neville?" said Ron.**

**"Well, my gran brought me up and she's a witch," said Neville, **

"What? Frank, why is your mum bringing him up?" Alice asked, panic evident in her voice. Frank knew that she had already guessed, because he saw her glance at Lily and James sadly. He pulled her closer to him.

"It'll be ok, baby," he whispered in her ear. She sniffed and nodded.

**"but the family thought I was all-Muggle for ages. **

"I was a late bloomer as well," Alice whispered.

**My Great Uncle Algie kept trying to catch me off my guard and force some magic out of me - he pushed me off the end of Blackpool pier once, I nearly drowned – **

"WHAT? Frank, we need a will. Algie is not going near that child ever in his life."

"Yes, dear."

**but nothing happened until I was eight. Great Uncle Algie came round for dinner, and he was hanging me out of an upstairs window by the ankles **

Alice was muttering obscenities under her breath towards the man she had never liked when she spent time with Frank and his family.

**when my Great Auntie Enid offered him a meringue and he accidentally let go. **

"He dropped my baby for a MERINGUE?"

**But I bounced - all the way down the garden and into the road. **

"Oh thank God," she breathed.

**They were all really pleased, Gran was crying, she was so happy. And you should have seen their faces when I got in here - they thought I might not be magic enough to come, you see. Great Uncle Algie was so pleased he bought me my toad."**

Frank grinned. So the man had done some good after all.

**On Harry's other side, Percy Weasley and Hermione were talking about lessons ("I do hope they start right away, there's so much to learn, I'm particularly interested in Transfiguration, you know, turning something into something else, of course, it's supposed to be very difficult-"; "You'll be starting small, just matches into needles and that sort of thing - ").**

Sirius looked like he was going to comment, but stopped at the looks that Lily and Molly were sending him.

**Harry, who was starting to feel warm and sleepy, looked up at**

**the High Table again. Hagrid was drinking deeply from his goblet. **

Minerva sighed.

**Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Quirrell, in his absurd turban, was talking to a teacher with greasy black hair, a hooked nose, and sallow skin.**

James stopped. "Are you….no. Surely not." Sirius looked like he shared James' denial, but Remus was frowning. He knew it couldn't be a coincidence.

**It happened very suddenly. The hook-nosed teacher looked past Quirrell's turban straight into Harry's eyes - and a sharp, hot pain shot across the scar on Harry's forehead.**

"He's hurting my son! That bas-"

"James! Watch the language!" But Lily herself looked worried.

**"Ouch!" Harry clapped a hand to his head. **

**"What is it?" asked Percy.**

**"N-nothing."**

"Tell him, even if he is a…rule-follower," Sirius said, making sure not to insult the boy.

**The pain had gone as quickly as it had come. Harder to shake off was the feeling Harry had gotten from the teacher's look - a feeling that he didn't like Harry at all.**

"Of course he didn't, the grudge-holding little bas-"

"JAMES!"

**"Who's that teacher talking to Professor Quirrell?" he asked Percy.**

**"Oh, you know Quirrell already, do you? No wonder he's looking so nervous, that's Professor Snape. **

The Marauders groaned and James hit the arm of the sofa hard. "That greasy…punk is going to be teaching my kid? How could Dumbledore let this happen?"

"That's quite enough, Mr. Potter," Minerva said severely. It looked as if Severus was going to be her colleague in the future, and she never spoke ill of her colleagues, or tolerated such. It was against her policy.

**He teaches Potions, but he doesn't want to - everyone knows he's after Quirrell's job. Knows an awful lot about the Dark Arts, Snape."**

"I'm sure he does," James said ominously. Lily hit his arm.

**Harry watched Snape for a while, but Snape didn't look at him again.**

"Good."

**At last, the desserts too disappeared, and Professor Dumbledore got to his feet again. The hall fell silent.**

**"Ahem - just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. **

"What are they, cattle?"

**I have a few start-of-term notices to give you.**

**"First years should note that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well."**

"Psh, we sometimes forgot that rule even existed."

"Believe me, I'm well aware."

**Dumbledore's twinkling eyes flashed in the direction of the Weasley twins.**

Gideon and Fabian winked at each other. Could their clones get any more perfect?

**"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.**

"As if."

**"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. **

"WOO QUIDDITCH!"

"Not in my ear, James!"

**Anyone interested in playing for their house teams should contact Madam Hooch.**

**"And finally, I must tell you that this year, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."**

Remus blinked. "Well…that's a new one. I wonder if he's serious?"

Minerva looked worried. "Of course he is, Albus would never joke about something that would be dangerous to his students."

**Harry laughed, but he was one of the few who did. "He's not serious?" he muttered to Percy.**

**"Must be," said Percy, frowning at Dumbledore. "It's odd, because he usually gives us a reason why we're not allowed to go somewhere - the forest's full of dangerous beasts, everyone knows that. I do think he might have told us prefects, at least."**

"Prefects don't know everything, Mr. Weasley." Sirius looked overjoyed to see his favorite professor chastising the prat, even if it was just through a book.

**"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles had become rather fixed.**

"Awh c'mon professor, don't you like it?"

"Not in the least," she sniffed.

**Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick, as if he was trying to get a fly off the end, and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself, snakelike, into words.**

**"Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!" And the school bellowed:**

**"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, **

**Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, **

**Teach us something please, **

**Whether we be old and bald **

**Or young with scabby knees,**

**Our heads could do with filling **

**With some interesting stuff, **

**For now they're bare and full of air, **

**Dead flies and bits of fluff, **

**So teach us things worth knowing, **

**Bring back what we've forgot, **

**just do your best, we'll do the rest, **

**And learn until our brains all rot."**

**Everybody finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left singing along to a very slow funeral march. **

The twins laughed out loud, ignoring the disapproving glare their younger sister shot at them.

**Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand and when they**

**had finished, he was one of those who clapped loudest.**

**"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here!**

"Somehow, I doubt that," Lily said.

**And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"**

"Again with the cattle."

**The Gryffindor first years followed Percy through the chattering crowds, out of the Great Hall, and up the marble staircase. Harry's legs were like lead again, but only because he was so tired and full of food. He was too sleepy even to be surprised that the people in the portraits**

**along the corridors whispered and pointed as they passed, or that twice Percy led them through doorways hidden behind sliding panels and hanging tapestries. **

Sirius was wide-eyed. "He knows about them? How is that possible? He follows all the rules!"

**They climbed more staircases, yawning and dragging their feet, and Harry was just wondering how much farther they had to go when they came to a sudden halt.**

**A bundle of walking sticks was floating in midair ahead of them, and as Percy took a step toward them they started throwing themselves at him.**

"Go Peeves!" Sirius cheered. Regulus whacked him.

**"Peeves," Percy whispered to the first years. "A poltergeist." He raised his voice, "Peeves - show yourself."**

"Won't work!"

**A loud, rude sound, like the air being let out of a balloon, answered. "Do you want me to go to the Bloody Baron?"**

Sirius sighed. "I guess he knows the magic words."

**There was a pop, and a little man with wicked, dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross- legged in the air, clutching the walking sticks.**

**"Oooooooh!" he said, with an evil cackle. "Ickle Firsties! What fun!" He swooped suddenly at them. They all ducked.**

**"Go away, Peeves, or the Baron'll hear about this, I mean it!" barked Percy.**

"Stop ruining the fun!"

**Peeves stuck out his tongue and vanished, dropping the walking sticks on Neville's head. **

"Why is it always my kid?"

**They heard him zooming away, rattling coats of armor as he passed.**

**"You want to watch out for Peeves," said Percy, as they set off again. "The Bloody Baron's the only one who can control him, he won't even listen to us prefects. **

"Once again: _You're not all-powerful._"

"Enough, Mr. Black."

**Here we are."**

**At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress.**

"Oh good, she's still there."

**"Password?" she said. **

**"Caput Draconis," said Percy, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it - Neville needed a leg up **

A sigh from Alice. "He has the worst luck."

**- and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs.**

**Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase - they were obviously in one of the towers - they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pajamas and fell into bed.**

**"Great food, isn't it?" Ron muttered to Harry through the hangings. "Get off, Scabbers! He's chewing my sheets."**

"Gross, he lets a rat sleep in his bed?" Alice made a face.

**Harry was going to ask Ron if he'd had any of the treacle tart, but he fell asleep almost at once.**

**Perhaps Harry had eaten a bit too much, because he had a very strange dream. **

Remus laughed. "That will happen," he said, remembering some of Sirius' more vocal nightmares after a huge dinner.

**He was wearing Professor Quirrell's turban, which kept talking to him, telling him he must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it was his destiny. **

"No it's not," James growled. "Don't listen to anymore stupid pieces of cloth, they haven't even got a brain."

**Harry told the turban he didn't want to be in Slytherin; **

"That's right!"

**it got heavier and heavier; he tried to pull it off but it tightened painfully - and there was Malfoy, laughing at him as he struggled with it **

"How very Malfoy-ish."

**-then Malfoy turned into the hook-nosed teacher, Snape, whose laugh became high and cold - there was a burst of green light and Harry woke, sweating and shaking.**

"Oh no!" Lily gasped. "He still remembers…"

**He rolled over and fell asleep again, and when he woke next day, he didn't remember the dream at all.**

"Thank goodness for that," she said.

"I suppose I'm next in line," Remus said, reaching for the book.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Woo fast update! This chapter was mercifully short and fairly easy to write. It helped that I've had nothing to do lately. It turns out that all my teachers just gave up on school since it's so close to the last week. Worked out in my favor, and in yours since I got this up so much faster than the last one.

Also, someone asked me if I was planning on doing all 7 books. The answer is YES! I actually considered skipping ahead to the later ones because they're my favorites, but I decided the third was too important to miss with this particular group of people. I hope you'll stay with me until we reach the end! ~ Romulus

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

"**There, look." **

**"Where?"**

**"Next to the tall kid with the red hair." **

**"Wearing the glasses?" **

**"Did you see his face?" **

**"Did you see his scar?"**

**Whispers followed Harry from the moment he left his dormitory the next day. **

"Honestly, don't people have anything better to talk about?" Lily huffed. James, on the other hand, was beaming with pride.

'Typical Potter,' Regulus thought with a snort.

**People lining up outside classrooms stood on tiptoe to get a look at him, or doubled back to pass him in the corridors again, staring. **

"Really, is he that famous?" Gideon looked amazed.

**Harry wished they wouldn't, because he was trying to concentrate on finding his way to classes.**

"That can be difficult," said a sympathetic Molly. "It took me forever."

**There were a hundred and forty-two staircases at Hogwarts: **

"Who's counting?" asked Fabian, amazed.

**wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Friday; **

"I hate those," said Frank. He always seemed to forget where they led out.

**some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. **

"Which I always forget," said Alice ruefully.

**Then there were doors that wouldn't open unless you asked politely, **

"A skill Sirius never mastered," said Remus, glaring severely at his best mate.

"Good thing I kept you around Moony," the boy joked, throwing an arm around the werewolf, who tried hard not to smile.

**or tickled them in exactly the right place, and doors that weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. It was also very hard to remember where anything was, because it all seemed to move around a lot. **

"Almost every day," Minerva confirmed.

**The people in the portraits kept going to visit each other, and Harry was sure the coats of armor could walk.**

"They can," said James, beating Minerva to the punch. She frowned, but decided she'd rather not know how he knew that.

**The ghosts didn't help, either. It was always a nasty shock when one of them glided suddenly through a door you were trying to open. **

"Jerks," Alice muttered.

**Nearly Headless Nick was always happy to point new Gryffindors in the right direction, **

"Good ole Nick," Arthur said fondly.

**but Peeves the Poltergeist was worth two locked doors and a trick staircase if you met him when you were late for class. **

"Stupid poltergeist," Regulus said.

"But he's so much fun!"

"Well worth a laugh!"

"What's wrong with a little humor?"

"I mean to say-"

"Will you two shut up?" The Slytherin boy looked gratefully to Molly for stopping the verbal assault. Sometimes, those twins chattered too much for their own good.

**He would drop wastepaper baskets on your head, pull rugs from under your feet, pelt you with bits of chalk, or sneak up behind you, invisible, grab your nose, and screech, "GOT YOUR CONK!"**

James beamed proudly. "I taught him that!"

Sirius looked affronted. "Forgive me saying, but I believe it was a joint effort."

Regulus rolled his eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

**Even worse than Peeves, if that was possible, was the caretaker, Argus Filch. **

"PREACH!" Sirius shouted, raising his arms in mock praise.

**Harry and Ron managed to get on the wrong side of him on their very first morning. **

"Alright!" James and Sirius high fived.

"It most certainly is not," Lily said, glaring at the messy-haired boy next to her.

"Er…" James wasn't quite sure how to respond, so he motioned for Remus to read quickly.

**Filch found them trying to force their way through a door that unluckily turned out to be the entrance to the out-of-bounds corridor on the third floor. **

"Ouch, tough luck," Frank said with a grimace.

**He wouldn't believe they were lost, **

Sirius sighed. "And I was so sure he was a troublemaker."

**was sure they were trying to break into it on purpose, and was threatening to lock them in the dungeons when they were rescued by Professor Quirrell, who was passing.**

"Well…I suppose some good came from him," Molly said grudgingly.

**Filch owned a cat called Mrs. Norris, a scrawny, dust-colored creature with bulging, lamp like eyes just like Filch's. **

"Eurgh, I hope the one he has now dies between now and then so they don't have to deal with TWO," Sirius shuddered.

**She patrolled the corridors alone. Break a rule in front of her, put just one toe out of line, and she'd whisk off for Filch, who'd appear, wheezing, two seconds later. **

"Just like Miss Tigress," James said distastefully.

**Filch knew the secret passageways of the school better than anyone (except perhaps the Weasley twins) **

"Yes, they found them!" The twins high-fived. Molly groaned and shook her head.

**and could pop up as suddenly as any of the ghosts. The students all hated him, and it was the dearest ambition of many to give Mrs. Norris a good kick.**

"I don't advise it," Minerva said sternly. "The consequences from Argus would be most severe."

**And then, once you had managed to find them, there were the classes themselves. There was a lot more to magic, as Harry quickly found out, than waving your wand and saying a few funny words.**

Frank looked puzzled. "Of course there is, where would he get that silly idea?" Lily went red. She had thought that too when she was in first year.

**They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight and learn the names of different stars and the movements of the planets. **

"Which is quite useless unless you plan on becoming a Muggle astronomer," Sirius said.

Lily stared. "You know what an astronomer is?"

"There's a lot you don't know about me, Lily Flower," he replied with a wink.

James put an arm around his now girlfriend and glared at his best mate. "Watch the nicknames, and keep your winks to yourself." The other boy threw a cheeky mock salute and sat back.

**Three times a week they went out to the greenhouses behind the castle to study Herbology, with a dumpy little witch called Professor Sprout, **

"Dumpy? He could be a bit more polite with his descriptions," Lily mused.

**where they learned how to take care of all the strange plants and fungi, and found out what they were used for.**

**Easily the most boring class was History of Magic, **

Nearly everyone agreed. Regulus, who didn't find it so bad, kept quiet along with Lily.

**which was the only one taught by a ghost. Professor Binns had been very old indeed when he had fallen asleep in front of the staff room fire and got up next morning to teach, leaving his body behind him. **

"I bet the staff room is majorly awkward these days," Sirius said in a theatrical whisper. Alice could have sworn she saw Minerva snort and nod out of the corner of her eye.

**Binns droned on and on while they scribbled down names and dates, and got Emeric the Evil and Uric the Oddball mixed up.**

"It's not that hard," said Regulus. "Emeric was a goblin who tried to wipe out the elfish race, and Uric was a wizard who did weird experiments on horses. I mean, they're not even the same species."

Lily nodded, but Sirius just muttered "nerd" under his breath and shook his head.

**Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was a tiny little wizard who had to stand on a pile of books to see over his desk. At the start of their first class he took the roll call, and when he reached Harry's name he gave an excited squeak and toppled out of sight.**

Minerva chuckled at the antics of one of her favorite colleagues.

**Professor McGonagall was again different. Harry had been quite right to think she wasn't a teacher to cross. **

She nodded in agreement.

**Strict and clever, she gave them a talking-to the moment they sat down in her first class.**

"As many teachers should."

**"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she said. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned."**

"She has a point," said James. "You don't want to mess up and hurt yourself with a weird switching spell." This earned him a rare smile from his favorite teacher.

**Then she changed her desk into a pig and back again. They were all very impressed and couldn't wait to get started, but soon realized they weren't going to be changing the furniture into animals for a long time. **

"You tease," Sirius said with a pout. "We got our hopes up, too."

**After taking a lot of complicated notes, they were each given a match and started trying to turn it into a needle. By the end of the lesson, only Hermione Granger had made any difference to her match; Professor McGonagall showed the class how it had gone all silver and pointy and gave Hermione a rare smile.**

"What a showoff," said Sirius moodily. He really disliked this girl.

"May I remind you that there were four students in your own first year class that managed that feat, with you being one of them?" Minerva's eyebrows went up over her spectacles. Sirius blushed and turned away, knowing he had no response to that.

**The class everyone had really been looking forward to was Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Quirrell's lessons turned out to be a bit of a joke. **

"We never get a decent teacher for that."

"Yeah, and when we do, they disappear!"

"This stuff could come in handy some day, and we don't know it!"

Molly coughed to hide a dry sob at hearing her brothers say this. It made her wonder if having a decent teacher would have helped them stay alive just a little longer in the future.

**His classroom smelled strongly of garlic, which everyone said was to ward off a vampire he'd met in Romania and was afraid would be coming back to get him one of these days. His turban, he told them, had been given to him by an African prince as a thank-you for getting rid of a troublesome zombie, but they weren't sure they believed this story. For one thing, when Seamus Finnigan asked eagerly to hear how Quirrell had fought off the zombie, Quirrell went pink and started talking about the weather; **

"Really, what a fraud!" said Molly, pulling herself together in her annoyance.

**for another, they had noticed that a funny smell hung around the turban, and the Weasley twins insisted that it was stuffed full of garlic as well, so that Quirrell was protected wherever he went.**

"And a coward as well."

**Harry was very relieved to find out that he wasn't miles behind everyone else. Lots of people had come from Muggle families and, like him, hadn't had any idea that they were witches and wizards. **

"I knew it," Remus said with a smile.

**There was so much to learn that even people like Ron didn't have much of a head start.**

**Friday was an important day for Harry and Ron. They finally managed to find their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast without getting lost once.**

"Oh." James looked crestfallen. "It only took Sirius and I two days."

"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll find a way to impress you yet," Lily said with a roll of her eyes.

**"What have we got today?" Harry asked Ron as he poured sugar on his porridge.**

**"Double Potions with the Slytherins," said Ron. **

"Skip," James and Sirius said automatically.

"A double class, with a bunch of slime balls, being taught by the biggest slime ball of them all, who favors the minislimes. No. Way," Sirius finished.

**"Snape's Head of Slytherin House. They say he always favors them - we'll be able to see if it's true."**

"He does," said the usually fair Remus. "What? It's true."

**"Wish McGonagall favored us, " said Harry. Professor McGonagall was head of Gryffindor House, but it hadn't stopped her from giving them a huge pile of homework the day before.**

"I should think not," Minerva sniffed. "What awful behavior as an educator would that be?"

**Just then, the mail arrived. Harry had gotten used to this by now, but it had given him a bit of a shock on the first morning, when about a hundred owls had suddenly streamed into the Great Hall during breakfast, circling the tables until they saw their owners, and dropping letters and packages onto their laps.**

"Well it is a lot of owls," Arthur conceded. "I daresay he's not quite used to seeing them – I've heard that Muggle post is much different."

**Hedwig hadn't brought Harry anything so far. **

Everyone was reminded of the fact that Harry had no real family. "We would have written him, every day," Lily whispered. James tightened his hold on her as she sank into his embrace. Her poor baby…

**She sometimes flew in to nibble his ear and have a bit of toast before going off to sleep in the owlery with the other school owls. **

"At least she keeps the poor dear company," Molly said sadly.

**This morning, however, she fluttered down between the marmalade and the sugar bowl and dropped a note onto Harry's plate. **

Lily perked up.

**Harry tore it open at once. It said, in a very untidy scrawl:**

**Dear Harry,**

**I know you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to come and have a cup of tea with me around three?**

**I want to hear all about your first week. Send us an answer back with Hedwig.**

**Hagrid**

"Oh good old Hagrid, thank you!" Lily cried. James looked pleased as well.

"He's a right true friend, that one," he said fondly.

**Harry borrowed Ron's quill, scribbled 'Yes, please, see you later' on the back of the note, and sent Hedwig off again.**

**It was lucky that Harry had tea with Hagrid to look forward to, because the Potions lesson turned out to be the worst thing that had happened to him so far.**

James gritted his teeth. "That git better not do anything to my son."

**At the start-of-term banquet, Harry had gotten the idea that Professor Snape disliked him. By the end of the first Potions lesson, he knew he'd been wrong. **

"Why do I not like that wording?" Alice asked.

**Snape didn't dislike Harry - he hated him.**

James was practically growling, and Sirius was right there with him.

**Potions lessons took place down in one of the dungeons. It was colder here than up in the main castle, and would have been quite creepy enough without the pickled animals floating in glass jars all around the walls.**

"Hmph. Slimy, fitting for him," Sirius said with contempt.

**Snape, like Flitwick, started the class by taking the roll call, and like Flitwick, he paused at Harry's name.**

"But unlike Flitwick, he was a huge git and tortured Harry."

"James, Remus is reading. Shush."

**"Ah, Yes," he said softly, "Harry Potter. Our new - celebrity." **

"He's going to attack his psyche," Arthur said. When he received blank looks, he explained. "It's a type of bullying or torture. Instead of physically harming the target, the antagonist makes them feel weak, inferior, or stupid. They often throw out snide remarks or stinging insults in a steady stream to break the victim down. This strips away the self-confidence and creates a feeling of worthlessness. Some victims even become severely depressed." Most people looked rather disturbed by the time he had finished, and Lily was on the verge of tears. James' jaw was set and his hands were trembling. Molly turned slowly towards Minerva.

"And you allow someone who would do this to be _teaching?_ In a school full of impressionable children?"

Minerva's mouth was the thinnest of lines. "I assure you, Molly, Severus had better be on his best behavior when he takes up his position. I do not know if we can change the future from reading these books, but I will most certainly be checking in on his classes periodically."

**Draco Malfoy and his friends Crabbe and Goyle sniggered behind their**

**hands. **

"Scum," Sirius spat.

**Snape finished calling the names and looked up at the class. His eyes were black like Hagrid's, but they had none of Hagrid's warmth. They were cold and empty and made you think of dark tunnels.**

"Well I see he has a good judge of the man," James sneered.

**"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potionmaking," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word - like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. **

"But I assure you that I am much more friendly about it," Minerva sniffed.

**"As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."**

"He actually sounds like he knows his stuff – from an academic perspective of course," said Remus, adding the last part because James was glaring daggers at him. "If he was a bit more humane and friendly, he would actually be a good teacher. I'm just glad we got someone who has both qualities." Lily nodded. Slughorn was one of her favorite professors, almost tied with Professor Flitwick.

**More silence followed this little speech. Harry and Ron exchanged looks with raised eyebrows. Hermione Granger was on the edge of her seat and looked desperate to start proving that she wasn't a dunderhead.**

"Of course she did," Sirius said, but without as much contempt as usual. He realized he had more important people to hate in this chapter.

**"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"**

Lily gasped. "But the Draught of Living Death is a sixth year potion!"

**Powdered root of what to an infusion of what? Harry glanced at Ron, who looked as stumped as he was; Hermione's hand had shot into the air.**

"How does she know that?" Sirius asked, legitimately curious.

**"I don't know, sir," said Harry.**

**Snape's lips curled into a sneer.**

**"Tut, tut - fame clearly isn't everything."**

"And so it begins," Arthur said sadly.

"Of all the foul people…" James was muttering furiously.

**He ignored Hermione's hand.**

**"Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"**

"Those are only briefly mentioned in fifth year, traditional potion curriculum focuses more on actually brewing antidotes," Lily said coldly. Minerva could now appreciate why she was Horace's favorite student.

**Hermione stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without her leaving her seat, but Harry didn't have the faintest idea what a bezoar was. He tried not to look at Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were shaking with laughter.**

"It's not funny," Remus said stiffly.

**"I don't know, sir." **

**"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?" Harry forced himself to keep looking straight into those cold eyes. He had looked through his books at the Dursleys', but did Snape expect him to remember everything in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi?**

"Apparently," said Frank in a tone that clearly stated he didn't approve.

**Snape was still ignoring Hermione's quivering hand. "What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"**

"Not only is that a trick question, but that's not until the third month of first year! Certainly not the first lesson!" Lily was almost shouting at this point.

**At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching toward the dungeon ceiling.**

"Call on her already!" Alice cried.

**"I don't know," said Harry quietly. "I think Hermione does, though, why don't you try her?"**

Lily sat with her mouth open as everyone laughed. "Professor Slughorn speaks often of your cheek, and it seems as if your son has inherited it," Regulus said merrily. He didn't approve of what Severus was doing either, despite the two being friends. It was heartening to see Harry stand up to him.

**A few people laughed; Harry caught Seamus's eye, and Seamus winked. Snape, however, was not pleased.**

**"Sit down," he snapped at Hermione. **

"She didn't even do anything," Alice said angrily.

**"For your information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all copying that down?"**

"Because you didn't ask them to, you….dunderhead!" Everyone looked at Minerva in surprise. "What? I couldn't think of an appropriate word, and that one sprang to mind. I don't approve of his methods in the least." She straightened her spectacles. "Carry on."

**There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment. Over the noise, Snape said, "And a point will be taken from Gryffindor House for your cheek, Potter."**

"Although he was provoked, I suppose only a point is fair enough," Regulus said. This remark didn't do him any favors in James' eyes.

**Things didn't improve for the Gryffindors as the Potions lesson continued. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Malfoy, whom he seemed to like. **

"Prejudiced git."

**He was just telling everyone to look at the perfect way Malfoy had stewed his horned slugs when clouds of acid green smoke and a loud hissing filled the dungeon. Neville had somehow managed to melt Seamus's cauldron into a twisted blob, and their potion was seeping across the stone floor, burning holes in people's shoes. **

Alice groaned. "Did he have to inherit my potion skills? He's going to be ridiculed by that awful man!"

**Within seconds, the whole class was standing on their stools while Neville, who had been drenched in the potion when the cauldron collapsed, moaned in pain as angry red boils sprang up all over his arms and legs.**

"My poor baby," his mother said sympathetically. The same thing had happened to her many a time.

**"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, **

"Don't call him that!" Frank yelled. Alice looked equally furious.

**clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"**

**Neville whimpered as boils started to pop up all over his nose.**

"Can't you see he's in pain?"

**"Take him up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Seamus. Then he rounded on Harry and Ron, who had been working next to Neville.**

**"You - Potter - why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Gryffindor."**

"That's not even the least bit fair!"

"How could Dumbledore let this happen?"

"Why doesn't someone stop him?"

**This was so unfair that Harry opened his mouth to argue, but Ron kicked him behind their cauldron.**

"Why'd he stop him?" James asked angrily.

**"Don't push it," he muttered, "I've heard Snape can turn very nasty."**

"Good advice," Lily nodded, while glaring at her boyfriend. He shot an apologetic glance towards the Weasleys.

**As they climbed the steps out of the dungeon an hour later, Harry's mind was racing and his spirits were low. He'd lost two points for Gryffindor in his very first week - why did Snape hate him so much?**

"Oh please, these two lost more than that in the first two days," Remus said, nodding to the other two Marauders.

**"Cheer up," said Ron, "Snape's always taking points off Fred and George. **

Molly sighed.

**Can I come and meet Hagrid with you?"**

**At five to three they left the castle and made their way across the grounds. Hagrid lived in a small wooden house on the edge of the forbidden forest. A crossbow and a pair of galoshes were outside the front door.**

"That can't be safe lying around," Regulus mused quietly. He knew most of the room was fiercely loyal to the man, and didn't want to insult him in front of them.

**When Harry knocked they heard a frantic scrabbling from inside and several booming barks. Then Hagrid's voice rang out, saying, "Back, Fang - back."**

"Fang? What kind of beast does he have in there?" Lily asked, worried.

**Hagrid's big, hairy face appeared in the crack as he pulled the door open.**

**"Hang on," he said. "Back, Fang."**

**He let them in, struggling to keep a hold on the collar of an enormous black boarhound.**

"Oh my," Molly said, also worried.

**There was only one room inside. Hams and pheasants were hanging from the ceiling, a copper kettle was boiling on the open fire, and in the corner stood a massive bed with a patchwork quilt over it.**

**"Make yerselves at home," said Hagrid, letting go of Fang, who bounded straight at Ron and started licking his ears. Like Hagrid, Fang was clearly not as fierce as he looked.**

"Haha, we should have known," Remus laughed. "Hagrid always gives his nice creatures fierce names, and the scary ones get cute names." He shook his head.

**"This is Ron," Harry told Hagrid, who was pouring boiling water into a large teapot and putting rock cakes onto a plate.**

**"Another Weasley, eh?" said Hagrid, glancing at Ron's freckles. "I spent half me life chasin' yer twin brothers away from the forest."**

"I suppose I should be used to hearing these things by now," said Molly, glaring at Gid and Fabe as if it was all their fault.

**The rock cakes were shapeless lumps with raisins that almost broke their teeth, but Harry and Ron pretended to be enjoying them as they told Hagrid all about their first lessons. **

"Yeah, never actually eat his food," Sirius said sagely.

**Fang rested his head on Harry's knee and drooled all over his robes.**

**Harry and Ron were delighted to hear Hagrid call Fitch "that old git."**

Minerva looked as if she thought that was rather unprofessional. Even if Argus was extraordinarily unpleasant.

**"An' as fer that cat, Mrs. Norris, I'd like ter introduce her to Fang sometime. **

"Do it!" the Marauders cheered.

**D'yeh know, every time I go up ter the school, she follows me everywhere? Can't get rid of her - Fitch puts her up to it."**

**Harry told Hagrid about Snape's lesson. Hagrid, like Ron, told Harry not to worry about it, that Snape liked hardly any of the students.**

**"But he seemed to really hate me." **

**"Rubbish!" said Hagrid. "Why should he?"**

**Yet Harry couldn't help thinking that Hagrid didn't quite meet his eyes when he said that.**

"It's because of me," James said softly, realizing it.

"Ridiculous, why should it be because of you?" Lily asked.

"The book said Harry looked just like me, didn't it? Snivellus looks at my son and only sees me. He hates me, so he hates Harry too."

"Sev isn't _that_ dumb," Lily said, but she didn't sound too convinced.

**"How's yer brother Charlie?" Hagrid asked Ron. "I liked him a lot - great with animals."**

**Harry wondered if Hagrid had changed the subject on purpose. **

"He did, and he's rubbish at it," Remus confirmed.

**While Ron told Hagrid all about Charlie's work with dragons, Harry picked up a piece of paper that was lying on the table under the tea cozy. It was a cutting from the Daily Prophet:**

**GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST**

**Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witches unknown.**

**Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day.**

**"But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you," said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon.**

**Harry remembered Ron telling him on the train that someone had tried to rob Gringotts, but Ron hadn't mentioned the date.**

Lily gasped. "It was on his birthday!"

**"Hagrid!" said Harry, "that Gringotts break-in happened on my birthday! It might've been happening while we were there!"**

"Or after," the redhead mused, a thoughtful frown line creasing her forehead.

**There was no doubt about it, Hagrid definitely didn't meet Harry's eyes this time. He grunted and offered him another rock cake. **

"Really Hagrid, you're just asking him to keep wondering!" Minerva sounded exasperated.

**Harry read the story again. The vault that was searched had in fact been emptied earlier that same day. Hagrid had emptied vault seven hundred and thirteen, if you could call it emptying, taking out that grubby little package. Had that been what the thieves were looking for?**

Lily gasped. "That's it!"

"And we'll find out for sure, now that we know Harry has your curiosity," said Alice.

**As Harry and Ron walked back to the castle for dinner, their pockets weighed down with rock cakes they'd been too polite to refuse, Harry thought that none of the lessons he'd had so far had given him as much to think about as tea with Hagrid. Had Hagrid collected that package just in time? Where was it now? And did Hagrid know something about Snape that he didn't want to tell Harry?**

Minerva sighed. It seemed Harry wouldn't stop until he found out the answers to these questions, and she guaranteed that they were not answers that he should be finding.

Remus passed the book to Sirius.


End file.
